Soul Voice
by Avaryan
Summary: What if there had been a reason Naruto was unsuitable for bearing the burden of the Kyuubi's prison? What changes would be wrought upon the life of another newborn child chosen in his stead, one with her own, very different personality and abilities?
1. Prologue: What Must Be Done

"Here it comes! I can see the head now…push, Kazama-san!"

Unable to bring himself to watch, Kazama Arashi turned away from the bed where his wife had been lying for the past five hours. He wished he could say it was because he couldn't stand the sight of her in such obvious pain, but that would have been a lie; as Fourth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf, he had far too much experience with pain, both his own and that of the people for whom he cared.

Behind him, he could hear his wife's grunts and strangled gasps, along with the encouragements of the medics attending her. It wouldn't be long, now—and indeed, after one final, drawn-out groan that sounded like nothing else that had ever passed his wife's lips, he heard the piercing wail of a newborn child. A sick sense of anticipation overcame him, and he took a moment to curse himself for ruining what should have been one of the most joyful moments of his life.

"Arashi?" The sound of his wife's voice, tired yet joyful, instantly cut through his inner turmoil. "Come, don't you want to see our son?"

At those words, an indescribable feeling of relief swept over Arashi, who for a moment forgot the role of Hokage and allowed himself to be only what any other man in his position should be: a proud father, overjoyed that both wife and child had come safely through the birthing process. The feeling was not to last for long, though, as guilt flooded through him shortly afterwards. His child was safe, but now another would have to pay the price.

With expert skill honed over years of political maneuvering, however, he managed to keep any of those emotions from showing on his face as he turned and knelt down beside his wife, who was cradling a tiny, cloth-wrapped form in her arms. "Isn't he perfect?" she murmured, and, gently stroking the infant's solitary tuft of blond hair, Arashi could not help but agree with her.

"I need to go," he said reluctantly, after a few minutes had passed. "I wish I didn't have to, but…"

His wife smiled. "I understand," she said, adjusting her hold on their son. "With the Nine-Tails getting closer, I'm surprised the commanders managed to leave you alone this long. Besides, right now I don't think I'm ready to do much except sleep."

Gently, Arashi kissed her, then his son. His plans had obviously worked; she knew nothing of what he intended to do, or even exhausted from giving birth, she undoubtedly would have tried to stop him. Taking one final look at the family he would never see again after that day, he stood up and walked away.

- - -

Exhausted, the new mother could do nothing except lie back on her bed and marvel at the baby sleeping in her arms. The nurse who had attended her during delivery had already left, likely to join the medic-nins at their field hospital, and so she was alone in the tiny room. Her husband had been unable to be with her for the birth—any and all ninja were needed for the delaying action against the fox demon, especially those who, like him, were part of the elite ANBU hunter teams—and she felt his absence acutely.

_Please, come back safely_, she thought, rubbing small circles on her daughter's tiny back. Though not a ninja herself, she had been married to one for years, and she was far from naive. The odds were against her husband returning at all, let alone unharmed, but she had to hope.

"Excuse me…?"

With all of her attention focused on her thoughts and her child, she had failed to notice when the door to her room opened and a man walked in. Now, startled, she looked up and saw one of the last people she had ever expected.

"Hokage-sama!" she blurted out. "Is…what are you doing here?" Immediately, she flushed scarlet as she realized he might take offense at her question. He was said to be a kind man, but she was sure the stress of the past several days must have taken its toll on him.

For several long moments, he failed to say anything, and worry began to grow within her. _Gods…what if something's happened to Kisame?_ she wondered fearfully. _Hokage-sama himself wouldn't come just to give me the news, so that can't be it…right?_

"I have a request of you, Haruno-san," the Hokage finally said. "It will seem somewhat strange, though."

"Anything!" she exclaimed, relieved beyond words that he had not come for the reason she feared. She thought she saw him flinch at that, but he recovered so quickly that she decided she must have been mistaken. What he said next made her wonder if she had somehow damaged her hearing during the delivery.

"I need to take your daughter with me, Haruno-san. Just for a few hours, and I promise you no harm will come to her, but this is more important than you can imagine."

The utter sincerity in his voice captivated her, yet she reflexively tightened her arms around her child. "What—why do you need her?" Her voice was trembling, she realized. "My husband is out there fighting, maybe dying, and now you want to take my daughter? She's barely a few hours old. How could she possibly help you?"

The Hokage's mouth tightened almost imperceptibly—from sorrow, she thought, not anger as she had feared at first. "I ask on behalf of your husband, and that of every other man and woman out there with him," he said, bowing his head slightly. "We can't win against the Nine-Tails, not with the way things have been going. I've found a way to stop it, but…"

"But what?" she asked, wondering why he was telling her this. She was only a schoolteacher, not a village elder or military strategist, and certainly not part of the Hokage's inner circle of advisors. Yet, he had gained a reputation for intelligence and thoughtful behavior after growing out of the recklessness of youth and into his role as the village leader, so she was sure he must have some reason for this—even if she had no idea what it could be.

"But my idea requires the presence of a newborn girl," the Hokage finished, and she could hear the quiet desperation in his voice. "I would give anything not to have to ask this of you, but my own wife just gave birth to a son. I swear upon my name that your daughter will be unharmed, and…without her, I see no way for the village to survive."

Silence fell over the room at this pronouncement. Then, almost inaudibly, she spoke. "Take her," she whispered, holding her child out for the Hokage. "Before I change my mind, take her."

Her words echoed in the stillness. Moving with precise, unhurried motions, the Hokage took her as yet unnamed daughter from her and, cradling her in his arms like a rare and precious treasure, walked out of the room. Now completely alone, Haruno Akina began to cry, soundless tears trickling down her cheeks. She may not have been a ninja, but that did not mean she was unfamiliar with the concept of sacrifices.

- - -

Author's Notes: Yes, it's another one of several dozen thousand (literally, I'm pretty sure) Naruto AU stories. The primary character and point of divergence should be obvious, but hopefully that doesn't mean it can't still be an interesting story. If it turns out that people don't think so...well, I'll probably be a bit disappointed, but I doubt I'll shed any tears over it. Needless to say, any and all reviews--positive, negative or indifferent--are most welcome. As for length, this is only an introduction, and actual chapters should be more on the order of 3000-5000 words; I'm far from a quick writer, so updates will be at best once a week or so, and quite probably less frequent than that most of the time.


	2. One: Things Long Hidden

Despite her young age, Haruno Sakura was neither stupid nor unobservant. For the past year, ever since the Hokage himself had taken her from the orphanage and placed her in an apartment of her own, she had noticed how the people of the village treated her. It was almost enough to make her want to ask him to take her back to the orphanage, but every time she thought about asking, something made her change her mind. At least in her apartment she had safety and the illusion of privacy, if not necessarily the reality, and that was worth any number of hateful glares and muttered insults.

_Demon-girl…hope she dies…murdering bitch…like to drag her into an alley and—shut up, do you want the ANBU to hear you?_

She couldn't understand why the elite ANBU would care what happened to her when even her own ninja guards didn't, but the threat of their attention always seemed to make people be quiet. Once, she asked the Hokage, on one of his occasional visits to her apartment, just why everyone seemed to despise—a new word she had read in a book and found quite relevant to her life—her. The old man had gotten a sad look on his face and changed the subject, asking her if she was getting enough to eat. It was another four months before he came back to visit her, and she never asked him that question again. Sakura was nothing if not a fast learner.

If the adults were cold and cruel to her, the village's children could be positively vicious. Even the few who made tentative attempts at befriending her soon found themselves pulled away from her by their parents, and none of them ever spoke kindly to her twice. At times, she almost found herself wondering if her real name wasn't "Freak-Hair" or "Melon Head," or any one of a hundred other taunting nicknames they found for her—and unlike the adults, restrained by either some small remaining sense of shame or, more likely, the occasionally-seen presence of her guards, the children were perfectly willing to progress from verbal to physical abuse.

She learned to sew out of necessity; otherwise, her meager supply of clothing would have been torn to shreds within weeks, thanks to all the playground "accidents" in which she found herself involved. Of course, her patched clothes simply provided yet another inspiration for insults and petty torments, but she was used to that. At least she could feel safe while she slept, now. Sakura's time at the orphanage had taught her the value of such seemingly simple concepts.

Eventually, she found that the novelty of harassing her had apparently worn off to some extent, and, so long as she stayed away from the other children, they would ignore her for the most part. Persuading herself that she preferred it that way, she made it her goal to be as unobtrusive as possible. She never took part in classroom discussions—not that any of her teachers ever called on her even when she had tried—and, during breaks, could always be found sitting by herself as far away from everyone else as possible, hunched over defensively with her knees drawn up against her chest.

She would try to read, sometimes, but the presence of a book seemed to be a magnet for those among her peers who still enjoyed the occasional game of "torment the pink-haired weirdo," and, after she returned the second ruined book in as many days, the librarian refused to let her check out anything else. Despite the damage to his precious books, though, he seemed to be the only person in the village aside from the Hokage who didn't hate her. He still wasn't quite friendly to her, but from what she had seen, he wasn't friendly to anyone, not even the high-ranking officials who occasionally came to the library in order to look up historical records. Curiously, that almost made her feel better than if he had been nice only to her, for all she really wanted was to be treated like everyone else—good or bad—and not singled out for who she was.

As a result, she found herself spending more and more time in the musty library, fascinated by stories of the village's history and the brave ninja who had made such sacrifices, even up to their very lives, in its name. And, because Sakura was a clever girl who excelled at piecing together metaphorical puzzles, one day she realized that amidst the hundreds of thick tomes and ageing scrolls, she had found the answer to the question she had asked the Hokage so many months ago.

- - -

"A demon…inside me?" Sakura whispered, barely able to believe the conclusion she had reached after over a month of reading and trying to find books with the right information she needed to understand what she had read. Hesitantly, after looking around to make sure nobody else was watching, she lifted up the hem of the faded red dress she was wearing. She had become so used to the strange black design around her navel that she almost didn't notice it any more, but now she looked at it with new eyes and shuddered involuntarily at what it seemed to mean.

The scroll spread out on the table in front of her probably should have been placed in one of the special archives for ninja materials; certainly, despite the fact that it contained no actual combat moves, it did not belong in the general circulation section. It had taken her several weeks to read through even a part of it, and she understood very little of what she had managed to read, but the unnamed author had included a number of diagrams—and, to her surprise, she found she somehow recognized parts of more than a few of them.

It took her another week to realize where she had seen the diagrams, or at least something that strongly resembled them, and when she did, she forced herself to reread those sections of the scroll more carefully than she had ever read anything before in her life. Tattooed on her stomach were parts of half a dozen different seals listed in the scroll titled "Advanced Spirit Containment and Filtration Techniques," linked together with other symbols she couldn't find anywhere else she had looked.

While she had no idea what her seal was meant to do, it seemed obvious that it had something to do with a powerful spirit of some sort—and not a friendly one, or the symbols would have been very different. Suddenly, the villagers' whispers of "demon girl" and "hellspawn" began to make a frightening amount of sense to her, and she tugged her dress down again to cover up the black markings that had taken on a newly sinister meaning. Like building blocks falling into place, more and more half-remembered scraps of information began to fit together in her mind.

The Fourth Hokage had been the undisputed master of Fuuinjutsu—mystical sealing techniques—even to the point of overtaking his teacher in the art, the legendary Sannin Jiraiya. Eight years ago, he had died killing the Nine-Tailed Fox, perhaps the most powerful demon-spirit recorded in the history of the Leaf. One of the seals partially replicated on Sakura's stomach seemed to have something to do with blood sacrifices, if she was reading the scroll at all correctly. The villagers, or at least the older ones, seemed to think of her as some sort of demon, even if they never quite said it out loud, and their hatred of her always reached a fever pitch right around the time of her birthday—the same day the Nine-Tails had attacked the village and the Fourth had sacrificed his life to kill it.

_But he didn't kill it, did he? It's still here, in me, and they all know it._ She barely made it to the bathroom before vomiting up everything she had eaten that day.

- - -

The next day, and the next week after that, found Sakura huddled in her tiny apartment, hardly moving from where she lay curled up on her bed. Nobody would notice, she knew—or if they did notice, they certainly wouldn't care. It was getting towards the end of the school year, and with the upcoming all-important tests required for entering the ninja academy next year occupying the attention of everyone in her class, she wasn't even worth sparing the time to harass in passing, let alone specifically look for.

Perhaps her guards had reported her lack of activity to someone, but if so, nobody had cared enough to come check on her, not that she was surprised. The Hokage probably did care—he seemed to genuinely enjoy it when he visited her, even if he was a little sad most of the time—but she knew she wasn't important enough to be brought to his attention. He had to worry about the whole village, not just one young orphan girl.

Even if, by some miracle, he had come to see her, she had no idea what she would say to him. She had so many questions, but at the same time, none of them really mattered now. Before, she had dreamed that if only she could become a strong and brave ninja, like the ones in the stories she read, then maybe then everyone would like her. Sometimes, on days when people had been especially cruel to her, she thought about the monument to the fallen heroes.

_Poor Sakura_, she had imagined them saying, as they looked up at her name carved into the stone and left flowers or little offerings of food like she had seen some people do. _We were so mean to her, and she still saved all of us. Why weren't we nicer to her?_

Now she knew, though. Everyone hated her because she had the _thing_ that nearly destroyed the village living inside her. She would never be allowed to become a ninja, and if she were to die, it would probably be a day of celebration rather than mourning. Certainly, her name would never appear on any monument.

She wanted to yell at them that it wasn't her—that she had never done anything bad; she was a good girl and had never asked to have a demon sealed in her—but she knew it would make no difference. Her classmates didn't know about the demon, she was sure, but they still hated her just as much as the adults did. Part of her wanted to hate them back, but that wouldn't matter either. She could hate them all she wanted and it wouldn't change a thing, wouldn't make them accept her or like her, which was all she really wanted.

"I just wish they could see I'm Sakura, not the demon…" she murmured into her tear-stained pillow as her eyes drifted closed.

- - -

"Sakura? Wake up, please. I would like to talk with you." The voice, accompanied by a gentle shaking sensation, gradually brought Sakura out of her nice, comfortable half-asleep state and back to something resembling full awareness.

_No you wouldn't_, Sakura thought to herself as she reluctantly sat up and rubbed her eyes. _Nobody ever wants to talk to me, not even—_ "Hokage-ojiisan?" All thoughts of sleepiness were abruptly forgotten as she saw who was standing beside her bed.

The old man chuckled at her surprise. "Yes, Sakura," he said. "I would apologize for waking you, but you shouldn't be in bed at two in the afternoon, especially not on a school day." His face attempted to form a chiding expression, but Sakura thought he looked more concerned than anything.

Did he care? If it had been anyone else, she was sure the answer to that question would have been an emphatic negative, but the Hokage was the only person who had ever come to visit her. Sometimes he even brought presents for her, or took her out to eat. Just the fact that he was in her room, when she knew he was always busy, seemed to say that he cared about her to some extent.

"Sakura?" Now he definitely looked worried, and she realized she must have missed something he said. "Are you feeling all right?"

She nodded, almost automatically. "I'm fine," she said, though she looked away from him so he wouldn't see the truth in her eyes; while she might not be sick, she was feeling anything but fine at the moment. She hated lying to him, but some part of her mind was practically screaming to her that she couldn't let anyone else know that she knew about the Nine-Tails inside her.

She had somehow managed to forget, though, that despite his kindly demeanor, the Hokage was a ninja, and a very skilled one at that—certainly more than capable of telling when a grade-schooler was trying to lie to him. "Sakura," he said, a mild warning in his voice, "you're about forty years too young to be able to fool me. I know you don't like school, but you've never been absent for more than a day at a time before now, and you haven't been to the library recently either. As your guardian, I need to know if something is wrong. I can't help you if you won't tell me anything."

_Help me? How? _ Sakura thought, her earlier, kindly thoughts now turning bitter. Even the Hokage couldn't stop the hateful whispers or accusing glares she was faced with every time she left her apartment. He certainly couldn't force parents to let their children play with her, or tell the children not to call her names and shove her around—assuming he even knew about things like that. Her guards probably didn't think they were important enough to be worth telling him.

"Nothing's wrong," she repeated, keeping her eyes trained firmly on the floor. "I wasn't feeling good, but I'm fine now."

The Hokage looked unconvinced. "Is it because of the ninja academy selections?" he asked, reaching out and nudging her chin up so she had no choice but to look him in the eyes. "Despite what you might be thinking, I do know how your classmates treat you, and I'm sure it hasn't been easy listening to them recently."

"You _know?_" Sakura blurted out, recoiling from him. "You know what they do to me, and how everyone treats me, and you haven't done anything?" Conveniently forgetting her own thoughts of a moment earlier, she glared at him and scooted back on her bed so she was out of his immediate reach.

She found herself unable to maintain her anger, though, when she saw his face fall. She had always thought of the Hokage as strong and powerful, but now she realized that underneath the ceremonial trappings of hat and garb, he was _old_, and the hint of sadness she had always seen in him when he visited her revealed itself in every line and crease on his aged face. She opened her mouth to apologize, but before she could say anything, he lifted one hand to stop her.

"Forgive me, Sakura," he said quietly. "You are such a bright girl that I sometimes forget you are indeed still a girl, and not a young woman with experience to match your intelligence. Yes, I know how the people of this village behave towards you, but that doesn't mean I can stop them. I am only the Hokage, not a god, and I have no control over how people act so long as they obey the laws."

Almost against her will, Sakura nodded, his words uncomfortably echoing her own thoughts. _It's not fair!_ she wanted to yell at him. Even knowing why they all hated her, it still wasn't fair. _I didn't do anything wrong, so why are they punishing me?_

"However," the Hokage continued, interrupting her thoughts, "there are some things I do have control over, one of those being the ninja academy selection process. Regardless of what your classmates might have said to you, you have just as much right as any of them to take the tests, if that is what you wish to do."

Sakura could barely believe her ears. After learning about the demon, she had given up all hope of ever becoming a ninja, but now the Hokage himself was telling her she still had a chance. That was all she really wanted, a chance, because she was sure that once her classmates got to know her, they wouldn't hate her any more—and at the ninja academy, they would _have_ to get to know her. All the stories she had ever read talked about how ninjas had to work together with their teammates.

"Could I really?" she asked wistfully. "I know I missed school, but I promise I'll study hard and be ready for the tests. I really want to get in."

As if by magic, the tired, sad look melted away from the Hokage's face, and he knelt down beside her bed and put his arms around her. "Of course you can," he told her. "Whether you pass the tests or not is up to you, but I promise you'll have the chance, and I'm sure you won't have any problems if you really do want it that much."

Smiling, her eyes bright with unshed tears, Sakura hugged him back before pulling away a little and letting him stand up again. "Thank you, Hokage-ojiisan," she said as she stood up too, walking over to her wardrobe to pick out something to wear other than her pajamas. "I'm going to study so hard and be the best ninja ever, you'll see!"

With a nod and a soft laugh, the Hokage turned and left her room, having completely forgotten that Sakura never answered his original question.

- - -

Author's Notes: Well, this is almost certainly the quickest I'll ever update, since I already had this partially written and didn't want to let a short prologue stand on its own for too long. Hopefully, this chapter has provided some insight into how I'm presenting Sakura's basic personality in this story: intellectually brilliant--a genius in the classic sense of the word--but very emotionally and socially underdeveloped, for obvious reasons. It seems like a logical extrapolation from canon, especially the flashbacks in her chuunin exam fight with Ino, but I welcome any comments or criticism. I hope you enjoyed this! Next chapter will deal with her experiences at the ninja academy.


	3. Two: Taking a Chance

_All right, Sakura, you can do it_, she thought to herself as she stared at the classroom door. She had passed the tests a month ago—easily, she knew, although nobody had told her exactly how she had done on them—and now all she had to do was open the door and go inside to meet her new classmates. The Hokage himself had given her the admission form, and he had even bought her a pretty new dress to wear on her first day, saying that he was proud of her for doing so well.

She had no idea why she was so nervous. Most of the other children in there probably wouldn't even know her, since they had been privately tutored. It was no secret that the majority of the academy students were from the old, well-established ninja clans, and those families rarely sent their children to the public school Sakura had attended. She couldn't have been the only one from her class to pass the test, though, and all it would take would be one person to recognize her and start the teasing and bullying all over again.

_Enough_, she told herself firmly, remembering a line from her favorite book, one written by, somewhat ironically, the Fourth Hokage. _A ninja does not ignore fear, but she cannot feel it so strongly that she lets it distract her from her duty._ Opening the door cautiously, she peeked in, then slipped through the half-open doorway when she realized nobody in the large room had noticed her presence at all. Fear or no fear, a ninja also knew the wisdom of observing a situation before diving headfirst into it.

While the majority of her new classmates were sitting in their seats and talking with their neighbors while they waited for the teacher to arrive, two dark-haired boys were crowded around a third boy's desk, apparently arguing with him, if their animated gesturing was any indication. The seated boy's blond hair initially caught her attention, as she had only ever met one other person with that color hair—a girl in her old class named Ino—but after assuring herself that he was in fact a boy, and not Ino, she quickly lost interest in the argument and resumed her examination of the room.

Much to her relief, she didn't recognize any of the people in the room at all; apparently, if anyone else from her old class had passed the tests, they were in other classes. Most of the seats had already been taken, leaving only a few in the front row and one beside a boy with spiky black hair in an odd style who seemed to be sitting a little bit away from the others. She knew she didn't want to sit in the front, where everyone would be staring at her and could throw things at her while the teacher's back was turned, so that left only the seat beside the boy with strange hair.

Mustering up her courage, Sakura walked over to him. "Um…hi," she said quietly, pushing her over-long bangs out of her eyes with one hand. "Is anyone sitting next to you?"

The boy looked up at her and shrugged, then returned to whatever he had been doing before—staring off into space, apparently, Sakura decided. She was a bit put off by his attitude, but at least he hadn't been actively unfriendly, and she would much rather be ignored than made fun of.

"Well…I'll sit here, then, if it's okay," she said, then sighed minutely when he didn't answer. Deciding to take it as a sign that he didn't mind, she set her books on top of the empty desk and sat down. Shortly thereafter, she was immensely grateful she had chosen that desk, since it was somewhat out of direct line of sight from the door.

_Ino…_ Sakura groaned to herself. It figured that the person she had just been thinking about would choose that moment to step into the room. While Ino was far from the worst of her old classmates, she was still a very unwelcome reminder of those times, and Sakura saw her dreams that these new people would become her friends end with the blonde girl's appearance. No doubt she would tell them all about how everyone had hated Sakura before, assuming they didn't already know from their parents.

To Sakura's surprise, though, when Ino glanced in her direction, she gave no sign she even recognized her, choosing instead to join the arguing group centered around the unfamiliar blond boy. She was sure Ino had seen her—her hair was, as far as she knew, completely unique in the whole village—so why hadn't she come over to tease her?

_Maybe…maybe Ino doesn't want to be mean to me any more?_ Sakura wondered, barely able to believe the thought. The blonde had never been nice to her, but she had also never been one of the ones who started the taunting "games," so Sakura didn't know what to think of the other girl. Without any of the others around, perhaps Ino really would start to be nicer. It was something to hope for, at least.

That train of thought was abruptly cut off by the entrance of the class's teacher. Everyone who had been standing up went to their seats, and most of the people talking grew quiet. The lone exception seemed to be the blond boy, who continued to talk with the boy sitting next to him—apparently extolling the virtues of ramen as opposed to yakiniku, if Sakura was hearing him correctly.

"Kazama-san!" the teacher finally barked out after waiting a few moments for the boy to finish. "While following a proper diet is indeed important to ninja, I assure you that neither ramen nor yakiniku would appear on a well-balanced menu. Now, shall we proceed with more relevant topics?"

Both boys flushed with embarrassment, and the blond boy winced when a few members of the class began to snicker. He muttered something that Sakura couldn't hear from where she was sitting, but whatever it was, it apparently satisfied the teacher.

Stepping up to the podium mounted in the center of the front part of the room, the teacher cleared his throat. "My name is Umino Iruka, but you all can call me Iruka-sensei. I will be your main instructor during your time at this academy, so while you will have other teachers for certain specialized lessons, most of your time will be spent with me. As I'm sure you can figure out, that means it is in your best interests to make sure I don't ever have any problems with you."

He had stared directly at Sakura during the last part of his speech, and she got the distinct impression that he was referring specifically to her. Aside from that one dark spot, the next few hours proceeded without incident. From the roll call, she learned that her resolutely uncommunicative neighbor was named Nara Shikamaru and the blond boy was Kazama Naruto, the son of the Fourth Hokage. Unlike her old class, nobody had laughed at her or muttered insults when she gave her name, even if Iruka-sensei had glared a little.

- - -

When time was called for the class to head outside for a short lunch break, Sakura automatically headed for the seclusion of a tree set a small distance away from where most of her classmates were sitting. As she unpacked her lunch of rice and a few vegetables left over from dinner the night before, she took a moment to be grateful for the opportunity to attend the academy.

It was already so much better than her old school; even if she hadn't made any friends yet, the teacher was the only one who didn't seem to like her, and that could be because he was just strict. If he would yell at the Fourth's son, who was supposed to be some kind of incredible prodigy according to a few conversations she had overheard, then he probably just didn't want her to start any trouble.

_Not that I would_, Sakura thought a bit sadly, but as far as adults' reactions to her went, suspicion was one of the milder ones, and hopefully he might change his mind once he saw that she didn't want to do anything but learn. She had even taken almost a page of notes from the morning history lecture, despite having already read about what the lesson covered. As she swallowed the last bite of her lunch and put the container back in her bag, she decided to start reading her new textbook. It was the first book with real ninja techniques she had ever seen, and she couldn't wait to see what it had to say.

She had just started reading the first page when she was startled by a shadow falling over her. Looking up from her book, she instinctively flinched back when she saw several of her classmates standing in front of her, Naruto in front. She couldn't make out their faces very well, but based on past experiences, she was sure none of them were friendly—an assumption which was abruptly shattered when the blond boy plopped down across from her.

"Hi, I'm Naruto!" he said with a happy grin. "I know pretty much everybody else in our class, but you're new. Ino-chan said you went to her old school, but she wouldn't tell me anything else about you."

Sure enough, she could see Ino in the small crowd, half-hidden behind one of the others, a very large boy with brown hair whose name she couldn't remember. She looked more than a little embarrassed to be there, but to Sakura's surprise, she didn't look like she was going to do anything mean. She hadn't even told the others about how everyone in their old class had hated Sakura, apparently.

"Oh! Um…I'm Sakura, Naruto-san," she answered his unspoken question, flushing slightly as she realized he was waiting for her to say something to him. "I…there's nothing really interesting about me, I guess, so that's probably why Yamanaka-san didn't say anything."

Naruto laughed, though not in an unkind way. "You sound like my mother, Sakura-_chan_," he said, stressing the suffix almost comically. "We're all going to be ninja together, so it's kind of silly to be so formal, don't you think?"

Upon hearing that, Sakura almost felt like crying from happiness. Even though she knew Naruto was just teasing her, only the Hokage had called her Sakura-chan before now. Those few sentences he had just spoken seemed to offer the fulfillment of every hope she had about coming to the academy—acceptance, maybe even friendship—but while part of her was happier than she could ever remember being in her life, another part was wondering what the smiling boy would say if he knew the truth about her, especially given who his father had been.

Despite that dark thought, she found herself smiling hesitantly back at him. "Okay…Naruto-kun," she said. It felt a little awkward to add the familiar suffix to his name, and she couldn't help but wonder for a moment if he would reveal that it had been a horrible trick on her, that Ino had told everyone all about her and now they all hated her just like her last class had. When Naruto continued to grin at her, though, she found herself relaxing.

_I guess I was right…maybe everything really will be better now_.

- - -

Later that afternoon as Sakura sat slumped over on her threadbare couch, she found herself doubting that thought. While nobody had been mean to her—Ino had even said she liked Sakura's dress, her eyes and voice clearly indicating that what she really meant to say was "I'm sorry"—she had a sinking feeling that perhaps she wasn't cut out to be a ninja after all.

The morning classes had been easy enough, but the afternoon classes had been completely different. Iruka-sensei had met everyone outside at the end of lunch and directed them all to a big open area with a number of wooden poles on one side, where he announced that they would be testing their shuriken throwing before dividing up into groups for lessons based on ability. Sakura had never thrown a shuriken before—didn't even own any, and had no money to buy them even if any shop would have sold to her—but when she had tried to tell him that, he only shrugged and told her that the academy couldn't supply weapons to every student who attended.

_Translation: Not my problem, demon girl_. She wasn't sure why she had been surprised by that, but it had still hurt.

She had managed to get through the test by borrowing a few from the person standing next to her, a boy named Shino who talked almost as little as Shikamaru, but in the end, that had only further depressed her. None of the ten shuriken she threw had hit her pole, marking her as an abysmal failure next to her classmates, all of whom had hit with at least three. Naruto and a black-haired boy whose name she hadn't learned had both hit with all ten, prompting smiles of approval from Iruka-sensei.

The end result, of course, was that Sakura found herself assigned to a decidedly sullen-looking teacher's assistant for remedial training, and while she didn't mind that part so much, she was sure everyone else must be convinced she was pathetic. If they hadn't after the throwing test, they certainly did after the next and final class of the day: introduction to ninja techniques.

"Pathetic" failed to adequately describe her performance in that class. Because none of the students knew any techniques yet, at least officially, Iruka-sensei had begun teaching meditation techniques designed to draw out and strengthen one's chakra. While they practiced, he had gone around and performed a simple technique that would show them how much chakra they currently had, in the form of a glow around their bodies. At the end of the year, he said, he would repeat the technique so they could see how much they had grown.

Most of the students had glowed a dim whitish-blue. Naruto's glow had been the brightest, which somehow failed to surprise Sakura, though a few others—including the black-haired boy who had done so well in the shuriken lesson, as well as Ino and Shikamaru—weren't too far behind him. She had been a little surprised at how brightly Ino had glowed, since she remembered reading that it usually took longer for girls to develop their chakra, but perhaps the blonde was just particularly strong.

Sakura, though, had failed to glow at all, causing more than a few odd looks from her classmates as well as a blank-faced stare of disbelief from Iruka-sensei. He had ended the class early after that and rushed off somewhere, and, humiliated, she had taken advantage of her classmates' confusion to slip out of the room—though she had not allowed herself to cry until she had reached the safety of her apartment.

_Is it because of the seal, maybe?_ she wondered, able to think more clearly now that she had calmed down a little. _What if it's using my chakra somehow, and that's why I don't have any?_

She really needed to try to reread that scroll of seals she had found, Sakura decided; even if it was confusing and made her more than a little uncomfortable, it was the only source of information she had access to that might help her understand what had been done to her. Sighing a little, she stood up and smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress. It was still early enough in the afternoon that most people should be at work, so hopefully she would be able to make it to the library without seeing anyone.

- - -

As Iruka waited for the Hokage to call him into his office, he tried to conceal his fidgeting as best as he could. With a wry smile, he wondered if this was how his students felt when they had gotten in trouble for something, even though he had been the one to request this meeting with the Hokage, not the other way around. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, one of the pair of chuunin guarding the door to the Hokage's office nodded to him.

"You can go in now," the young man said, opening the heavy wooden door. "Hokage-sama has another appointment in half an hour, so please be brief."

Iruka made some noncommittal reply before walking past the two guards and into the inner office. While he sincerely hoped he wouldn't be long—especially since he didn't want to be there at all, really—he had a feeling that the Hokage would be quite interested in what he had to say. He was almost shamefully interested in the demon girl, from what Iruka had heard, treating her more like a daughter than the monster everyone else knew her to be.

"Ah…Umino Iruka, yes?" The Hokage's voice broke him out of his thoughts, reminding him that even if the man was old and his judgment questionable in certain matters, he _was_ still the Hokage and as such deserved respect.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he said, bowing deeply. "Please, just call me Iruka. I'm sorry for disturbing you, but something happened in my class today, and I thought you might want to know about it."

The Hokage appeared to be deep in thought for a moment, then smiled widely. "Of course, now I remember. Today was Sakura-chan's first day at the academy. May I assume that you are her teacher?"

Trying to fight the urge to grimace at hearing the Nine-Tails' vessel referred to so casually, Iruka nodded. "That's right, Hokage-sama. She performed…adequately in the academic classes and poorly in the first practical class, but that type of behavior is fairly normal for students who don't come from a ninja background."

Truthfully, the girl's performance had been far more than adequate in the morning history and literature lessons. He had been forced to call on her several times when hers had been the only hand raised, and she had gotten every question correct, even the ones over material he was sure none of the students would have covered yet. More than that, she had appeared so interested—even happy—during the classes that his appreciation as a teacher for a worthy student almost managed to overcome his feelings of disgust for the thing that had killed his parents.

He shook his head and continued speaking, aware that the Hokage was eyeing him in a rather disconcerting manner. "The incident I came here to talk to you about, though, was during the ninja techniques class. Since that class is the first time most students, ninja families or not, begin working with their own chakra, I started with some basic meditation techniques.

"To make things more interesting, though, I used a standard low-level diagnostic technique to show them their chakra fields; I find it helps the younger children when they can actually see what they're working on. I have a feeling, by the way, that this class has the potential to be quite exceptional."

"But I doubt that is why you came to talk to me, Iruka-san," the Hokage gently interrupted, his tone, despite its softness, a clear request to get to the point.

"The Haruno girl has no chakra," Iruka said bluntly, deciding that he really didn't care about trying to find a tactful way of presenting the information. "She cannot become a ninja, and I recommend that she be withdrawn from the academy as soon as is practical."

For a moment, the Hokage looked so puzzled that Iruka wondered if he would need to repeat himself, but then the man started to laugh. "Ah, Iruka-san, that is nothing to be concerned about," he finally said.

Now feeling distinctly annoyed, as though the situation was a joke that only he failed to understand the punch line of, Iruka frowned. "Hokage-sama, I'm quite serious. Even the Rock boy in the second year has chakra reserves, though his coils are damaged to the point where he can't use his chakra externally. A student with no chakra at all cannot…"

"You see?" the Hokage asked as Iruka trailed off, feeling distinctly foolish. "A student without chakra wouldn't be a student at all, because he or she would be dead. The first rule of chakra manipulation is that every living thing generates chakra."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Iruka said, though now he was more confused than when he had started. "But I don't understand why the diagnostic technique would have failed, then. Is it because of…well…"

"The Nine-Tails?" The Hokage shrugged. "To be honest, I don't know. Perhaps the technique you used simply isn't sensitive enough to register her chakra, or perhaps the seal is interfering in some way. My successor was far more knowledgeable about sealing techniques than I am, so I'm afraid I don't really know what the possible side-effects might be."

Iruka nodded, even if the explanation hadn't really helped at all. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," he said. "I guess I'll just have to teach her like the others and hope that her chakra reserves develop over time, unless you have any suggestions."

Upon hearing this, the Hokage looked as though years of age had fallen off him, though at first Iruka couldn't understand why. "I should be the one thanking you, Iruka-san," he murmured. "Sakura-chan has such potential, but until now, her teachers have been unable to look past their hatred for the demon she carries within her. If you can simply treat her as you would any of your other students, it would be more consideration than she has ever received before."

"I…yes, Hokage-sama," Iruka managed to stammer out, feeling somehow ashamed, both for his earlier thoughts as well as for the apparent behavior of his colleagues. As he bowed and walked out of the office, he found his thoughts turning to the pink-haired girl in the red dress who had smiled so brightly, he now suspected, just because he had actually called on her to answer a few questions.

- - -

The next day, Sakura walked into her classroom feeling much better than she had when she left. Although several hours' study of the scroll of sealing techniques had failed to shed any light on the problem with her chakra, she had arrived back at her apartment that evening to find a slightly-worn leather satchel containing one set of shuriken and another of throwing kunai sitting propped up against her door, with no note attached or anything to indicate who had left it there.

At first she had been afraid to touch it, wondering if someone would jump out and accuse her of stealing it, but after a few minutes had passed with nobody appearing, she picked the satchel up and took it inside with her. The weapons inside were second-hand, with several nicks and scratches marring their matte finishes, but she didn't care about that, and careful inspection of the satchel had revealed a clan insignia embossed into the leather on the inside surface. It was so faded that she couldn't tell what it was supposed to be, though. Regardless of who had left it there, it was exactly the type of gift she needed to cheer her up; someone had obviously seen or heard about at least one of her problems and had done something to help her.

As she set her books down on her desk and tucked her bag under her chair, she looked around and noticed that several of her classmates were looking at her a bit oddly—not exactly in any sort of unpleasant manner, but more as though they weren't quite sure who she was or what she was doing there. She turned to Shikamaru to see if he knew what was going on, but he had his head down on his desk and appeared to be snoring.

_Somehow I'm not surprised_, Sakura thought, giggling to herself a little. She had only sat next to him for one day so far, but she could already tell he wasn't exactly the most motivated person around. Sighing slightly, she looked around to see if anyone else looked like they might talk to her. She was still a little early, though, and the only people she recognized in the room were Naruto and Ino, neither of whom she really felt like talking to.

Semi-apology or not, she still didn't feel comfortable just walking up to Ino and starting a conversation, and after all the time she had spent yesterday worrying about the possible effects of the Fourth's seal on her chakra, she wasn't sure she wanted to try talking to Naruto either. It wasn't fair to him, she knew, especially since he had been so nice to her the day before, but what if his father's seal really was doing something bad to her chakra and making it so she couldn't be a ninja? Then again, how was that any different from how all the villagers treated her because of the demon inside her?

Regardless of the outcome of her internal debate, it appeared she wasn't going to be given a choice in the matter, as Naruto had apparently noticed her entrance and was now walking towards her. "Good morning, Sakura-_chan_!" he exclaimed, putting the same emphasis on the suffix as he had the previous day at lunch.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun," she replied shyly, trying to keep herself from blushing at his tone. He wasn't trying to be mean, she knew, but she wasn't used to people teasing her in a friendly way and was unsure how to respond.

Apparently that was good enough for him, though, as he sat down in the desk in front of her and turned around to face her. "So, how did you do that thing with your chakra yesterday?" he asked excitedly. "That was really cool how nobody could see it. Is it a bloodline ability like Hinata-chan's? Sasuke-kun—" he waved in the direction of the boy with spiky black hair who had been so good at shuriken throwing— "has a bloodline ability too, but his probably won't show up for another couple of years, and I'll still be better than him even when he does get it."

Her mind reeling under the verbal onslaught, Sakura could only shake her head in confusion. "I…um…don't know," she said. She had never even considered the idea that what had happened might not actually be an indication of something wrong with her. "I don't really know anything about my parents, but I don't think I have any kind of bloodline."

"Oh, okay." Naruto looked somewhat disappointed at that bit of information, but then he shrugged. "I don't have any bloodline ability either. You really don't know how you hid your chakra, though? That would be so useful on missions, I bet."

Sakura was beginning to get the impression that talking with Naruto was akin to trying to swim away from a waterfall; he just seemed to keep going on and on about whatever he felt like talking about, and she could only try to keep up with him. As she was about to answer him, though, another boy walked up, an unfriendly expression on his red-striped face.

"Oi, Naruto," he said, nodding to the blond boy before turning to face Sakura. "What are you doing talking to her? My mom said she's not good to be around, and you saw her yesterday. She doesn't even have any chakra, so she'll never be a ninja." The tiny white dog perched on his shoulder barked once, as if to emphasize his words.

Sakura felt her face crumple, and she quickly looked down so neither boy could see the beginnings of tears in her eyes. _I should have known_, she thought bitterly. _Everything was going too well…people were being nice to me, and even Iruka-sensei wasn't very mean. I should have guessed that nothing would really change._

Everyone's parents had no doubt told them about her, and now they would probably treat her just like her old classmates had. She had had one day to see what things were like for everyone else, but that just made it worse. Before, she had only been able to imagine what it was like to be someone other than herself, but now she knew, and she desperately didn't want things to go back to the way they had always been.

She wouldn't let them see her cry, though. That was one rule she had made for herself that she had sworn she would always follow, because crying only let people know that they had managed to hurt her. Her eyes stinging from the effort of holding back her tears, she stood up and pushed past the two boys, walking quickly out of the room before breaking into a run when she was sure she was out of sight. So intent was she on getting away that she didn't even notice the confused voice calling her name from inside the room she had left.

- - -

Author's Notes: Many thanks to everyone who sent in reviews; they're most appreciated! Regarding this chapter, it's been a while since I've read the manga, and I don't really remember too much information being presented on what the early schooling is like, so I apologize if anything here contradicts canon too grievously. Hopefully this chapter didn't come across as too slow-paced, but I wanted to lay a firm groundwork for the next chapter, which will cover a much greater span of time. As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!


	4. Three: Doors Opening

From the moment he walked into the classroom, Iruka could tell that something was amiss. The Inuzuka boy—and wasn't that a minor rarity, when well over two thirds of the children born to that clan were female—was sitting by himself, his arms folded defensively and a scowl on his face, while the Fourth's son, whom Iruka had assumed to be one of his friends the day before, was glaring at him from his seat halfway across the room. Most of the other students seemed confused about what was going on, except for the Nara boy, who was sound asleep.

_Why me?_ he sighed to himself. _I really don't need this, especially not with the demon gi—the Haruno girl_, he reminded himself, remembering the end of his conversation with the Hokage the day before—_in here too_. As he looked around the room, though, he couldn't spot her, which surprised him. Given her attitude the previous day, he definitely would not have expected her to be the sort who would skip class.

When she still hadn't shown up by the time the first class was scheduled to begin, though, he was forced to conclude that the Hokage had apparently been wrong about her. Strangely, that didn't give him the sense of satisfaction at having been proven right that he might have expected, and he felt a small twinge of disappointment when he called her name on the roll and received no response. Shrugging, he turned his attention to his lesson plans; there wasn't anything he could do about it if she decided not to come to class, after all.

Several minutes later, as he was busy writing notes on the blackboard, he was surprised to hear the classroom door open. Turning around, he almost laughed when he saw her attempting to sneak in unnoticed—a wasted effort, he could have told her, as her hair made her far from inconspicuous. Curiously, she didn't have her bag or any books with her, but then she sat down at the desk he had assumed the Nara boy was using to store his supplies.

_So she was here, but then she left_, he thought to himself as he continued his lesson without acknowledging that he had seen her come in. _She couldn't have been in the restroom, not for that long._ Despite what the Hokage had said, he still had trouble thinking of her as a child rather than a demon, but that attitude was proving hard to maintain when he took a moment to really look at her. In sharp contrast to her cheerful attitude from the day before, she was practically exuding depression; while it was hard to tell from where he was standing, he thought the skin around her eyes looked red and puffy, as though she had been crying for quite some time.

_Annoyed Inuzuka plus angry Kazama plus miserable Nine-Ta—Haruno equals…what?_ He was certain the two boys' odd behavior before class was related to the girl somehow, as when she hesitantly put her hand up to answer one of the questions he had expected to stump everyone, both of them turned around to look at her—open dislike on the face of the former and surprise mixed with happiness on the latter.

_No, I definitely do not need this_, he thought, wondering again what spirit he had offended to get both the Fourth Hokage's son and the Nine-Tails' vessel in his class, even if neither of them seemed to be the cause of this particular little problem. At least they were all behaving during class, though he wouldn't put money on that continuing into the lunchtime break.

- - -

_Leave me alone…please, just let me sit here and eat_, Sakura silently begged, as she saw one of her classmates stand up from the table where a number of them were sitting and start to walk over to her. She had chosen a tree to sit under—fittingly enough, a cherry tree, though it was early autumn and the tree bore neither blossoms nor leaves—that was even further away from everyone than the one where she had sat the day before, and all she wanted to do was eat her lunch without anyone bothering her.

"Sakura?" The voice was light, a girl's, but not one Sakura recognized. Glancing up from her lunch, she saw a girl with short, dark hair and the odd pearlescent eyes that were an unmistakable mark of the Hyuuga clan standing a few feet away from her. Immediately, she began to panic.

"Y—yes, Hyuuga-san?" she asked, hating the quiver in her voice, but unable to suppress it. Even a friendless outcast like her knew about the Hyuuga, who, since the sudden and never fully explained demise of nearly the entire Uchiha clan, were the Hidden Leaf's undisputed powerhouse—both in terms of ninja abilities and political sway. The idea of a Hyuuga paying attention to her absolutely terrified her; if she somehow managed to offend this girl, she could quite probably literally get away with killing Sakura, and the Hyuuga were notoriously quick to take offense.

"I…um…just wanted to see if you maybe wanted to…eat with us?" the pale-skinned girl asked, sounding more than a little nervous, which Sakura couldn't understand at all. It didn't really matter, though, she supposed; just like yesterday, this was all a setup. No doubt the Hyuuga's invitation was just an excuse to get Sakura into a situation where everyone would start making fun of her like the boy with red-striped cheeks had before class that morning, but if she didn't accept it, the other girl would have an excuse to get angry at her.

Deciding that remaining unharmed, albeit most likely humiliated, was preferable to whatever the Hyuuga would do to her if she refused, Sakura nodded. "All right," she said, keeping her eyes downcast as she stood and walked over to where the others were sitting. _It isn't like I really have a choice, after all_, she finished silently.

When she saw who else was sitting at the table, though, she wondered if maybe she should have taken her chances and remained where she was. Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and—probably the absolute last person she wanted to see at the moment—Naruto were all looking in her direction, though in Shikamaru's case, she wasn't sure if he had actually noticed her or if his seat just happened to be facing that way.

"Thanks, Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as the two girls sat down, causing the Hyuuga to blush brightly. "I knew you could get Sakura-chan to come over with you."

_So this was his idea._ Apparently building up Sakura's hopes the previous day only to have his friend ruin them wasn't enough for the blond boy, but did he really think she would be naïve enough to fall for the same thing a second time? Much to her dismay, as she saw his wide smile and innocently happy expression, she found herself wondering if she might actually be, if not naïve, then stupid, because part of her wanted to give him that second chance.

Somewhat surprisingly, aside from their initial greetings, none of the others paid much attention to her. Instead, they seemed content with allowing her to sit and observe them as they talked to each other, only occasionally turning to ask her opinion on something. Against her will, she found herself relaxing her guard as she began paying more attention to the various conversations going on around her.

Naruto and the Hyuuga girl, Hinata, seemed to be fairly good friends—which made sense, given their social standing—as did Shikamaru and Chouji, while Ino flitted between the two pairs, poking fun at Shikamaru's laziness one moment and bopping Naruto on the head for teasing Hinata the next. To Sakura, the overall effect was somewhat bewildering, yet it made her heart ache to watch them and know she would never really fit in. Yesterday she had dared to hope that might change eventually, but that morning had shown her she had been mistaken.

"Why?" Sakura didn't even realize she had spoken aloud until she realized that everyone at the table had stopped talking and now they were looking at her. She felt her face flush under their combined stares.

"Why what?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to one side and looking puzzled. "I guess it's because most ninja don't develop their chakra reserves enough until after they graduate and become genin, but—"

"Not that!" Sakura interrupted him, deciding she might as well get it out in the open now that she had so foolishly opened her mouth. "Why are you all pretending to be nice to me? That boy this morning…I know that's how everyone really thinks about me, so why are you doing this? Just to be funny, so you can laugh at me when you tell me to go away after all?"

To her horror, she realized tears were forming in her eyes, and she blinked them back furiously. Keeping her head down so her bangs fell over her eyes, she waited for the inevitable jeering laughter—only to be startled by the feel of an arm slipping around her shoulders and giving her a half-hug.

The silence stretched out for what seemed like forever, and as she risked a glance up through her hair, she saw all of the others still staring at her, but now with sadness rather than curiosity in their eyes. Hinata—the dreaded Hyuuga—was the one with her arm around Sakura, and tough, perky Ino looked like she might start crying at any moment. Even Shikamaru and Chouji, whom she knew the least out of all of them, appeared a little concerned.

And Naruto—he didn't look sad; he looked furious. His eyes practically blazed with blue fire, and for a moment, Sakura wondered if this was how his father had looked just before sealing away the Nine-Tails. It was Ino who spoke first, though.

"I…know I wasn't very nice to you at our old school, Sakura," she said quietly. "My mom and dad always told me to stay away from you, so I did. And even though you looked so lonely sometimes, I knew they wouldn't tell me something like that for no reason.

"When I got home yesterday and told them about how you were in my new class, they were really worried at first. They went upstairs so I couldn't listen to them talking, and when they came back down, neither of them looked very happy. Then my dad told me to invite you over for dinner so they could meet you, which I don't understand since they never wanted me to talk to you before, but…"

As the other girl trailed off, Sakura puzzled over what this unexpected bit of news might mean. If Ino's parents knew about the demon sealed in Sakura, and it made sense to assume they did, since nearly all of the adults in the village seemed to, then why would they invite her into their home?

Unless…yes, that was the only explanation; now that she had entered the ninja academy and might have to work with their daughter regularly whether they liked it or not, they wanted to see for themselves just how dangerous she really was. This dinner would be more like an interrogation than a pleasant meal, she had a feeling, but strangely she found herself looking forward to it. As long as they were willing to give her a chance—which it seemed they were, as otherwise they wouldn't even have asked her over at all—she just might be able to show them that she wasn't the monster they thought she was.

_And vegetables might sprout from my ears, too_, some other, more cynical part of her interjected. Still, she nodded and, forcing a tiny smile, told Ino that she would love to come to her house for dinner sometime.

Upon hearing that, the blonde girl seemed to cheer up, looking more like what Sakura had already come to think of as her usual bouncy self. As the other excitable blond at the table opened his mouth to say something, though, he was yet again beaten to the punch, this time by Chouji.

"Um, I don't really know you or anything," the brown-haired boy said, looking up from his lunch for a moment but somehow continuing to eat even while he talked, "but I remember when everybody made fun of me for being too big and slow, and wouldn't let me play with them. I didn't like it, so…I'm not going to be mean like that to you."

Sakura could only smile at him, unsure of what she could say in response to that. Perhaps she had been wrong after all, and they really did want to be her friends. As much as she wished that could be true, though, she was just as much afraid to open up to them.

"So, Sakura, as I was trying to say before those two interrupted me…" The sound of Naruto's voice interrupted her thoughts, and she looked over at him, noticing that he sounded unusually serious. "I'm not sure what Kiba's problem was this morning, but I talked with my mother last night, and—"

Whatever he had been intending to say was cut off by Iruka-sensei's loud call that class was beginning, and he scowled in annoyance. "I'll tell you later, okay?" he said, as everyone began to pack up their lunches and head over to the practice field.

Sakura could only nod, confused by his attitude, before groaning as she realized that friends or no friends, remedial shuriken training was not going to be pleasant.

- - -

Sakura stood in front of the Yamanaka home, trying to keep from fidgeting as she waited for someone to answer the door. It had been a week since Ino first asked if she could come to dinner sometime, and she had eventually decided that the other girl's parents had changed their minds, but that day before class the blonde had asked if she could come over that evening.

Not having any reason to refuse other than nervousness, Sakura had agreed, and as a result she found herself standing outside a small but exquisitely well-kept home in her best dress—the red one the Hokage had given her when she started at the academy, as it was the only one she owned without patches or sewn-up tears—shivering slightly as the cool wind whipped her carefully brushed hair into tangles. She had rung the bell twice already, and while she could see lights on inside through the windows, nobody had come to the door yet. Wondering if she had misheard Ino that morning, she was about ready to leave when the door finally opened.

"Sakura's here!" Ino yelled back into the house as she opened the door wider. "Come in," she added to Sakura in a more normal tone. "Sorry I didn't come right away, but I was in the bathroom and _someone_—" this last word shouted again in the general direction of a man who had just stepped into the foyer, presumably her father— "couldn't walk ten feet from the kitchen to answer the door."

"I was busy helping your mother finish dinner, Ino," the man replied mildly. As Sakura entered the house, she caught a better look at him. Tall, with blond hair the same shade as his daughter's that was pulled back into a ponytail, he moved with the loose ease that was a mark of a highly-trained ninja. Sakura immediately decided that she never wanted to make him angry with her, even if he was currently regarding Ino with a look halfway between annoyance and affection and didn't exactly appear threatening.

"Liar…Mom knows better than that," Ino countered, crossing her arms. As an aside to Sakura, she stage-whispered, "Daddy can't cook at all. Chouji said his dad and Shikamaru's thought he was preparing a poison the first time he tried to cook for them on a mission. We're doomed if my mom let him help with dinner tonight."

Ino's father frowned at her. "That's enough," he said. "Why don't you go help your mother while I talk with your friend for a few minutes?"

"But…all right. See you in a little bit, Sakura," she sighed before walking away, pouting a little.

When she was out of sight, Sakura gulped. This was the part of the evening she had been dreading; even if Ino seemed to think her parents just wanted to get to know Sakura, she knew better. Of course, for some reason—perhaps that mysterious law she had heard people mutter about when they either hadn't noticed her or apparently didn't think she could overhear them—they couldn't let her know that there was anything special about her. Adding yet another twist to the whole matter, she couldn't let Ino's father know that she knew about what he wasn't supposed to talk about.

_Maybe I should've stayed home tonight_, she thought for at least the tenth time since she had left her apartment. While she had grown to enjoy Ino's company over the past week, was a potential friendship really worth going through this? Deep inside, though, she knew she would do this much and more if it meant that someone might actually want her around them. Besides, at least Ino's father didn't seem actively unhappy with her at the moment, though it was hard to read his expression.

"So, my daughter said that you're in her class at the academy, right?" he asked. Motioning for her to follow, he led her out of the foyer and through a short hallway to the dining room, where a low table was already set with bowls and utensils. A number of floral arrangements sat around the otherwise sparsely decorated room, while a scroll hanging on the wall bore the device of the Yamanaka family.

Sakura nodded. "Um…yes, and she was in my old class too," she said, "but I didn't really know her then."

"How are you finding the academy? I imagine it must be quite different from what you're used to." The question was natural, but he seemed to place a peculiar emphasis on it that Sakura couldn't understand, even knowing at least some of his hidden motivations.

Mentally shrugging, she answered, "I like it, but it's hard. Especially the chakra exercises…Iruka-sensei says I haven't really developed any chakra reserves yet, so I can't do some of the things everybody else can. I'm getting better with shuriken throwing, though, and my tutor said I should be able to start with kunai soon too."

He seemed surprised to hear this, for some reason, but she couldn't tell if it was a good kind of surprise or a bad kind. "How interesting," was all that he said in response.

He looked like he was about to ask something else, but at that moment, Ino and her mother appeared in the doorway bearing dishes of food. From that point on, the conversation, though somewhat stilted at times, covered topics unrelated to ninja or the academy. Ino's mother seemed a bit dismayed to hear that Sakura had lived by herself ever since the Hokage removed her from the orphanage, but she wasn't sure if she had been imagining the reaction or not.

After the meal was over and Ino and her mother began clearing the table, her father apparently decided it was time to resume his questioning. "You aren't really what I expected you to be," he commented, interlacing his fingers and resting his hands on the table as he leaned back slightly.

Sakura did her best to keep a confused expression on her face, as if she was unsure what he was talking about. Inwardly, however, she was anticipating whatever he might say next with a mixture of hope and dread. As long as he didn't plan to try to forbid Ino from talking to her again, she supposed it didn't really matter what else he did, but she still hoped she might have managed to change his own view of her at least slightly.

"Living alone at such a young age must be hard," he continued, and Sakura was now very much aware of his scrutiny. "You seem to have dealt with it well, though. That's good, since resourcefulness is one of the most important qualities a ninja can possess."

"I…um, thank you?" Sakura said, not having to fake her confusion this time.

Ino's father actually started laughing at that. "Don't worry," he said. "That was a real compliment, and I'm not going to try to tell my daughter not to talk with you any more—that is what you were worried about, isn't it?"

Sakura nodded, not trusting her voice at that moment, and he continued, "I imagine she told you how her mother and I instructed her to stay away from you at your old school. I don't expect you to understand, but we did have our reasons at the time. Now, though, I find myself wondering…"

As he trailed off, his attention drifted away from Sakura, leaving her more than a bit uncomfortable in the sudden silence. After a few moments, though, he seemed to refocus on her and said, "Ino should be finished with the dishes by now, so why don't you two go do something together for a little while. It's getting dark, though, so you should probably leave soon."

"Yes sir," Sakura said, bowing slightly before leaving the room in the same direction Ino and her mother had gone. She was more confused now than she had been before coming over for dinner. While she could tell that Ino's father was quite uncomfortable around her, he didn't seem to hate her the way most adults did. Ino's mother's attitude was harder to figure out; the older woman had been sympathetic at times, when she appeared to forget whom she was talking to, but she had also been very nervous most of the time.

_Do I really scare people that much?_ she wondered. _I don't want people to hate me, but I don't want them to be afraid of me either._ And then there had been Ino's father's last comment to consider; had he actually said—or almost said, at least—that he might have misjudged her? It was enough to keep her deep in thought for the rest of the evening.

- - -

"Next pair, Hyuuga Hinata and Haruno Sakura."

The teacher's voice dripped with disdain when he said Sakura's name, and she found herself barely restraining the urge to make a rude gesture in his direction. Mizuki-sensei had been the class taijutsu instructor for the last several months, ever since Iruka-sensei hurt his leg over the semester break, and she had yet to hear him say anything even remotely positive to her. In addition, he seemed to take a sadistic sort of joy in matching Sakura against the strongest students in the class for sparring matches.

_At least I'm not partnered with Kiba or Sasuke this time_, she thought, suppressing a shudder. The Uchiha was both stronger and far more skilled than she was, and didn't bother to hold back against her. He was like that with everyone, so at least he wasn't singling her out, but that didn't make the bruises she accumulated during their sessions hurt any less.

Kiba, on the other hand, had apparently never forgiven Sakura for costing him his friendship with Naruto, even though she hadn't ever done anything to him. Not only did he not hold back against her, he often went out of his way to end their matches in as painful and humiliating a manner for her as possible, something which Mizuki-sensei did nothing to prevent. Her friends had offered numerous times to take care of the boy with the red-striped face for her, but, not wanting them to get into trouble, she always declined—though she suspected that at least Naruto had gone ahead and done something anyways after one particularly bad session that had left her with a broken wrist.

As she stepped into the circle marked out in the dirt of the practice ground, Sakura looked over at Hinata, but was surprised when the other girl refused to meet her eyes. She had formed a remarkably strong friendship with the Hyuuga heir over the past school year, and while the two of them had little in common with each other on the surface, their personalities were remarkably similar. If anything, Hinata was shyer than Sakura in many ways, which made no sense to the pink-haired girl; even aside from being the heir to the most powerful family in the village, she was the second-strongest taijutsu student in the class, behind only Sasuke—though admittedly she had a natural advantage there—and she was no slouch in the classroom either. When Sakura had tried to ask Naruto about it, he had only muttered something about Hinata's father, an uncharacteristically dark look on his face.

"Ready? Begin!" Mizuki-sensei dropped his hand, and the uncertain look on Hinata's face was replaced by a look of grim determination that Sakura knew was mirrored on her own. She couldn't win, she knew; even without the Byakugan, Hinata's skills were far superior to hers. Still, at least this time she might learn something from the match, as Hinata took care to fight at her opponent's level for the most part.

_Have to keep the range open._ Hinata wasn't allowed to use the full jyuuken during sparring sessions, as recovering from closed tenketsu took too long to be practical given the amount of time set aside for taijutsu lessons, but Sakura knew that in a real situation even her opponent's softest hit would be potentially disabling.

Fortunately, Sakura was marginally faster, and as she jumped back and away from Hinata, she twisted into a sweep kick that almost succeeded in tripping up her opponent. Hinata seemed to flow around it, though, lashing out with a palm strike to Sakura's left shoulder that would have rendered the entire arm useless if it had connected.

Barely ducking the attack in time, Sakura again jumped back, putting her dangerously close to the edge of the circle. A second sweep kick, this one feinted, led into a combination straight punch and wheel kick that should have landed. With almost contemptuous ease, though, Hinata deflected the first and slipped around the second. Her retaliation, a knife-hand strike just below Sakura's floating ribs, landed with bruising force.

_What's going on?_ part of Sakura wondered, even as she desperately dodged around Hinata's follow-up attacks, trying to regain the relative safety of the center of the circle. Her friend wasn't holding back at all today, and unless Sakura was vastly mistaken, she was even using chakra to enhance her speed and strength.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," she thought she heard Hinata whisper as the dark-haired girl closed the distance between them in a sudden burst of speed, just before she snapped a kick into the center of Sakura's chest strong enough to leave her sprawled on the ground and gasping for breath.

"Winner, Hyuuga Hinata."

Sakura dimly heard Mizuki-sensei's voice announce the end of the match, but the part of her mind unoccupied with trying to get air into her lungs was already feverishly working on the question of what could possibly have made Hinata act the way she just had. It didn't make any sense, though, and finally she decided she would have to ask Naruto if he knew anything. The blond boy was Hinata's closest friend, and if anything was bothering her, he would know.

Climbing slowly to her feet, she managed to walk out of the sparring circle, though she couldn't keep from wincing as each step jarred her new set of bruises. Throbbing in time with her heartbeat, a voice in her mind whispered _Weak…weak…_ with every wave of pain, driving out her concern for her friend. It was true; Hinata might not have been holding back, but she still shouldn't have won so easily.

_Barely any chakra, near the bottom of the class in taijutsu…the only thing I'm even somewhat good at is kunai and shuriken throwing, and that's the most basic skill there is for a ninja._ She continued to berate herself as she sat and watched the rest of the matches with unseeing eyes, not even noticing when Ino sat down next to her and slipped a comforting arm around her shoulders.

Her first year at the academy was almost over. By the time her second year started, she was determined to find something she could excel at, something she could use to show she deserved to be a ninja just as much as any of the others in her class. She had promised the Hokage she would become a great ninja, and that was what she would do.

- - -

Author's Notes: Many thanks to all of you who reviewed! I definitely enjoy reading them. I have been trying to respond to the longer reviews, but due to the fact that I haven't used this site in nearly four years (long enough that I forgot my old account information...) and am still trying to get used to the whole private messaging system, I'm not entirely sure that the responses are going through. So, my apologies in the unlikely event that you've sent me something and I haven't responded; it's because I haven't seen it, unfortunately. To publically answer one question from a review, no, Hoshigake Kisame (aka Shark-Man) is in no way related to Sakura. That was an unintentionally confusing choice of names that will be retconned out of the introduction once I refer to Sakura's father again in the story.

I do realize that some characters may seem a bit different from canon, but they're all fairly minor changes, and hopefully I've managed to supply reasons for those differences within the story. If you think something needs more explanation or background, please review and let me know. The biggest change is in Hinata, but I think that's fairly well justified by her having been friends with Naruto for quite a while, so while she still desperately wants to please her father, she also has a bit more confidence in her own abilities than in canon.

Next chapter: Whatever happened to Sakura's mother? Also, creative ways of using minimal chakra to obtain big results...sort of. How long can Sakura keep her secret?


	5. Four: Newfound Resolve

"Oh, this is no use," Sakura moaned to herself as she pushed away the book she had been reading. Three weeks into the month-long semester break, she had yet to find any ninja disciplines that seemed suited to her particular abilities, and she was beginning to get more than a little discouraged. While she knew she couldn't expect to have an idea of her true strength after only a year of study and training, she also knew that each ninja's particular blend of strengths and weaknesses tended to stay more or less the same over time; it was possible to train to reduce one's weaknesses, of course, but only to a certain extent.

The main problem was that nearly everything a ninja did required at least some expenditure of chakra. From unconscious enhancement of strength and movement speed to deliberate manipulation of the elements, chakra usage figured into all of the ninja disciplines, and Sakura simply did not have the necessary level of chakra reserves for most techniques. Even at the end of the first year, she had only just reached the point where she could use her chakra to stabilize shuriken or kunai as she threw them—something Naruto had been able to do since he was six years old.

_What good is 'an unparalleled degree of chakra control' going to do me if I don't have any chakra to control in the first place?_ she thought bitterly. According to Iruka-sensei, her control was already better than that of most jounin, but the simple and depressing fact of the matter was that in most cases, ninja were rightfully more concerned with power than control. Even medical techniques, perhaps the most delicate and precise of all the ninja arts, required a certain threshold of chakra capacity that Sakura was unsure she would ever reach in the foreseeable future.

So far, she had eliminated taijutsu—including armed forms, as those still assumed a high degree of chakra-enhanced strength—ninjutsu, and now, reluctantly, genjutsu as possible areas of study. While she was fairly certain she could eventually become an adequate genjutsu user, the truly powerful techniques apparently required just as much chakra to perform as any ninjutsu. Still, unless she could find anything better, she supposed genjutsu was her best option, and perhaps some of the less chakra-intensive medical techniques as well; at least that way she could fill a useful role on a team.

Sighing, she decided to move on to a subject that, while no less gloomy, was at least progressing better than her search for a way in which she could excel at one of the ninja arts rather than simply be somewhat useful. She was now on her third complete read through the massive scroll of sealing techniques, and this time she thought she was starting to get a sense of how the various elements of a seal all fit together. Much to her frustration, though, several aspects of _her_ seal apparently failed to follow the guidelines written in the scroll, and there were still too many symbols of which she was forced to guess the meanings.

_And this is an advanced scroll, too._ Briefly, she wondered if there was a super-advanced scroll with even more information, before deciding that even if such a thing existed, there was no way she would be able to understand it. Still, the Fourth—or whoever had designed her seal—had to have been working from a different set of underlying principles than she had found so far. Four characters in particular disturbed her, as "her" scroll explicitly stated that they should never be used together in a single seal.

_Exchange, entrapment, soul, spirit._ She ran her finger over the diagram in the scroll that showed the four characters. For all its vehemence, the warning next to them was rather vague regarding what exactly would happen if the characters were combined, and Sakura felt sure that the arrangement was key to understanding her seal. Besides, the fact that it appeared to violate one of the fundamental guidelines of sealing techniques offended her sense of order; at first, she had begun her research into fuuinjutsu in an attempt to figure out if her seal could somehow be harmful to her, but at some point she had come to realize she enjoyed the subject for its own sake.

'_Exchange'…that one's easy enough. The state of one thing used to represent the state of a similar thing. Same with 'entrapment'; those two link together in lots of the examples. 'Soul' appears with 'entrapment' most of the time, and sometimes with 'exchange', but only once with both, in that blood sacrifice seal. And there are a bunch of other characters in that one that don't appear at all in mine._

She sighed and prepared to close the scroll again, no useful information gleaned from the examination, when something made her take a closer look at the fourth character. 'Spirit', which she had always assumed was used simply to reinforce or emphasize 'soul', was not the character she had always assumed it was. In fact, it was completely different, and she felt like slapping herself for being so stupid and unobservant.

'_Spirit'…as in a god?_ she wondered. The character appeared as the prime focus in several of the examples towards the end of the scroll, but always with the diagrams' flow radiating out from it, and she was almost positive her seal was different. Grabbing the drawn copy she had made of it so she wouldn't have to keep pulling up her dress or shirt in public—or accidentally do something to mess up the seal itself, though she wasn't sure that was possible—she examined the relevant section just to make sure she was remembering correctly.

With a growing sense of disquiet, she traced the connections. 'Exchange' connected to 'entrapment' and 'soul', which in turn connected with each other; the related objects were souls, and the equivalent state was their entrapment. _That's creepy enough, but adding the 'spirit' connections too…_

Horrified, Sakura rolled up the scroll and threw it in her bag along with the paper sketch of her seal, uncaring of the librarian's ban on her checking out any materials. She had to talk to the Hokage. If she was right about what the characters' arrangement meant, it was far more important that she tell someone than that she preserve the illusion she was unaware of the Nine-Tails' presence within her.

- - -

"I'm home!" Naruto called out. Shutting the door behind him, he kicked off his shoes and headed upstairs to get his practice kunai. After trying—again—to talk to Hinata about whatever was obviously bothering her, he had the distinct urge to work off his frustration at how his best friend had been acting recently.

_What's so bad that she can't even tell me?_ he wondered, kicking one of the steps. Ever since a week or so before the last semester had ended, she had been moody and withdrawn, even for her, and then she had viciously taken down Sakura in their last sparring match of the year. The Hinata he knew wouldn't have struck Naruto himself that hard, and even though he wasn't as skilled as she was, he was plenty tough enough to take hits; against Sakura, it was…well, the sort of thing Sasuke would have done.

"It has to be her father," he muttered to himself as he picked up his kunai holster from where it was looped around the bathroom doorknob. For a moment, he wondered what it was doing there, then remembered he had tossed it there after a particularly grueling workout following the _last_ time he had tried talking to Hinata.

"What has to be whose father?"

The unexpected voice from behind startled him, and he bit back a yelp as he spun around to see his mother looking at him curiously. "Mother!" he exclaimed. "You know I hate it when you do that!"

"And how will you get better at detecting people trying to sneak up on you if I don't?" she asked, her eyes alight with mischief. "Just think of it as a little bit of extra training."

Naruto groaned and rolled his eyes. "You're so mean," he said, sighing theatrically. "Besides, you used to be a _jounin_, and I just finished my first year at the academy. That's not exactly fair."

"Only corpses expect fairness," she told him, suddenly serious, as she motioned for him to follow her downstairs, "and I haven't been on active duty since before you were born. You need to be working on your stealth and awareness skills just as much as you practice taijutsu or ninjutsu."

"Yes, Mother," Naruto replied, knowing there was nothing else he could say. He loved his mother dearly, and most of the time she was much more laid-back than his friends' parents were, but he had learned very early in his life that there were some things on which she absolutely would not compromise. Anything related to the family honor or reputation was one, and anything that might affect his safety was another—and his ninja training fell squarely into the latter category.

"Now, then, what was that about someone's father?" she asked as the two of them sat down at the kitchen table. Two steaming cups of tea were already waiting for them, and for a moment, Naruto wondered what his mother had originally wanted to talk to him about before she overheard him.

Sighing, he answered, "It's Hinata. She's been acting really weird lately, and she won't tell me why. I think her father must've said something to her, or…I don't know. She even hurt Sakura, and they're really good friends!" Just thinking about it frustrated him, and he really wished he could be doing something to let out his frustration rather than having to sit inside talking.

His mother looked thoughtful for a moment, then frowned. "Haruno Sakura?" she asked, her frown deepening when he nodded. "And you said the two of them are friends?"

"Uh…yeah—I mean, yes, Mother," Naruto hastily corrected himself. "And Ino, too." He wasn't sure what being Sakura's friend had to do with how Hinata had been acting, but judging by his mother's expression, she seemed to have an idea.

"It is possible," she said, sounding reluctant, "that Hinata's father only recently discovered that his daughter had become acquainted with Sakura. I'm afraid Hiashi is the sort of person who would react…unpleasantly to that discovery."

Now Naruto was even more confused. "You mean Hinata got in trouble for being Sakura's friend? I remember Sakura said she never had any friends before she started at the academy, but why would Hinata get in trouble for being nice to her?"

_Uh-oh_, he thought to himself a moment later. He had only seen his mother wear _that_ expression a few other times in his life, and each time had been after he had done something truly bad. Fighting the urge to cringe, he awaited whatever punishment was undoubtedly coming his way.

Much to his surprise, though, her anger didn't seem to be directed at him. "There _is_ no reason, Naruto," she said fiercely, her eyes flashing, and for a moment he caught a glimpse of what she must have been like before she retired from being an active ninja. "No good one, at least, and I think I of all people have the right to say that."

Apparently sensing his confusion, she continued, "Do you remember how, last year when you first told me Sakura was in your class, I told you that our family owes her a debt? I said I couldn't tell you why, and I still can't, but the reason for it is the same reason Hinata's father would object to her being Sakura's friend."

"But…" Naruto trailed off, his head spinning. If his mother's goal had been to confuse him further, she had succeeded admirably. He didn't see what a debt had to do with being someone's friend, or how Sakura had anything to do with either the Hyuuga or his own family. He did know one thing, though, and that was that Hinata was miserable the way she was right now; perhaps, if he could find some way to help her be friends with Sakura again, she would be…maybe not bright and cheerful, as she wasn't really that sort of person, but at least back to her normal self.

As though she could tell what her son was thinking, Naruto's mother set down her tea and grabbed his hand just as he was about to stand up and leave. "No," she said, shaking her head. "I know you just want to help, but this is something Hinata needs to figure out for herself. As the Hyuuga heir, she's going to start facing more and more situations like this in the future, and she needs to learn to stand up for herself rather than rely on you all the time."

Reluctantly, Naruto nodded. He was lucky in some ways, he knew; even though he was never allowed to forget who his father had been, he didn't belong to any powerful house or clan. For Hinata, who was one of the shyest and most unsure people he had ever met, the constant pressure and unreachable expectations placed on her as her family's heir had often driven her literally to the point of tears—and while he would always be ready to comfort her as best as he could, he wanted even more not to have to do so.

"Good." His mother looked somewhat unhappy, yet still satisfied. "Now, why don't you go practice like you were going to earlier. We'll talk later about how to start working on your detection skills."

Wincing, Naruto gulped down the last of his tea, now cool, and stood up to leave. Concern over the situation with Hinata and Sakura was already beginning to fade as he thought about what his mother might have in store for him. She had a true gift for devising unpleasant yet effective training methods, and he suspected he would enjoy whatever she came up with this time even less than usual.

- - -

_Uh…what?_ Sakura groggily thought to herself as she blinked open her eyes, wondering why she was sleeping on the floor instead of in her bed. Slowly, though, her memory came back to her, and she let out a disappointed moan that turned into a yawn halfway through.

The Hokage had not been in his office yesterday when she tried to see him, according to the chuunin who guarded his door, and, citing probably-nonexistent "security regulations" with identical mocking smirks on their faces, they had refused to tell her where he had gone or when he would be returning. She had waited around for a few hours anyways, but when dusk began to fall and he still hadn't come back, she had reluctantly headed back to her apartment.

She had been determined not to miss seeing him today, though, and so she had shown up just before dawn and parked herself in front of the door to his office. Even the chuunin guards had yet to arrive, so she was certain she wouldn't miss the Hokage's appearance. She had stayed up all night rereading the scroll of sealing techniques and trying to figure out if her theory was correct, though, and when she found herself with nothing to do but sit and wait, she gradually began to fall asleep.

"Great," she sighed, now fully awake and aware of the midday sunlight illuminating the room. "I must have missed him completely by now. At least the guards didn't throw me out."

Her thoughts were interrupted by a polite cough, and, startled, she turned her head to see who was with her. After the dizziness brought on by the sudden motion faded, she was unable to control her exclamation of surprise at seeing the Hokage himself, busy at his desk with a large stack of paperwork. Someone had apparently moved her into his private office while she slept, as the last thing she remembered before falling asleep was standing by the door to his outer office.

"Well, now that you're awake, perhaps you can tell me what was so important that you showed up here even before I did," the Hokage said, setting down his pen and turning slightly to face her. "I'm sorry I haven't come by to see you since your break started, but there are better times to visit than six in the morning." His voice was amused, but also gently chiding, and Sakura felt herself blush a little.

"I…I'm sorry, Hokage-ojiisan," she said as she stood up and brushed off her clothes, trying to gather up her courage for what she would say next. "I found out something really important yesterday, and I didn't think the guards would let me in to see you since they wouldn't even tell me where you went yesterday when I tried to see you. I didn't mean to fall asleep, though, really."

Curiosity and a sort of expectant wariness had replaced the other emotions on the Hokage's face, and Sakura swallowed uncomfortably, aware that his full attention was on her now. "In that case," he said, "I think you should tell me what you found out."

"I know."

It wasn't what she had intended to say, but the short phrase burst from her lips unbidden. She watched as the Hokage grew very still for a moment, his face tight with some emotion she couldn't recognize. Standing up from his desk, he walked over and, with one hand on her shoulder, guided her to sit down in one of two chairs facing each other across a shogi board. He sat down in the other one and looked at her intently.

"Who told you?" he finally asked. His voice was calm, but the anger and disappointment in his eyes was plain to see.

Sakura shook her head. "Nobody," she said, forcing herself to meet his gaze. "I found out a year ago, after reading this scroll in the library." Reaching into her bag, she pulled out the scroll of seals and laid it on the table between them.

With a certain sense of satisfaction, she saw his eyes momentarily widen in shock, and she continued, "It wasn't really hard to figure out after that, with the way everyone always acts towards me. Nobody else my age has ninja guards following them around, either. I'm still not sure if they're there to protect me from people or kill me if I ever start turning into…it."

It was only meant as an observation—if her classes at the ninja academy emphasized any one thing, it was pragmatism, even towards one's self—and one she was genuinely curious about, but the Hokage seemed to take it as an accusation, and he winced painfully. "Both," he said, after a moment's silence. "I requested that guards be assigned to you after your mother's death for the former reason, and the Council agreed for the latter."

_My mother?_ Sakura wondered briefly. _I thought she died giving birth to me._ She dismissed the thought, though; while it was interesting information, it had nothing to do with what she wanted to talk about.

Apparently the Hokage must have realized that as well, as he leaned forward slightly and said, "If you have known about this for a year, though, why choose now to tell me?"

"I wasn't ever going to tell you, since I didn't think you wanted me to know," she admitted, surprised in spite of herself at the disappointment that showed on his face. "But I've been looking through that scroll ever since I found out, trying to figure out if the seal is why my chakra reserves are so small. I still don't know, but I found something else last night that's even worse."

Holding up a hand to stop her, the Hokage picked up the scroll and, after an astonished glance over at her upon reading its title, quickly skimmed through the contents. Sakura sat patiently and waited for him to finish, but inwardly she was bursting with the desire to show him what she had found.

"Well," he said, setting it down again after he finished, "I'm amazed—no, more than amazed—that you were able to decipher this scroll, but I can see how it would lead you to your initial discovery. This was likely one of the references the Fourth used when creating the seal he used on the Nine-Tails."

Sakura nodded. "But the seal on me doesn't follow the rules in that book…see?" She pulled out the copy of her seal she had drawn and set it on the table between them, pointing to a few of the problem areas she had found.

To her astonishment, the Hokage's face turned chalk-white when he saw the paper. Grabbing it away from her, he tore it to shreds and performed a quick, one-handed fire technique to burn even the scraps to ash.

"Foolish girl!" he shouted, so much anger in his voice that it terrified her. "Do you have any idea what could have happened to you—what that thing could have _done_ to you?"

"I—I don't understand," Sakura stuttered, shrinking back in her seat. "It's just a copy. I didn't want to accidentally do anything to the real seal, so I thought it would be safer if I made a sketch to look at."

"You really don't know, do you?" the Hokage asked, shaking his head. Some of the anger had gone out of his voice, but it still scared her. "This is exactly why information on ninja techniques, especially advanced and very dangerous techniques, should be kept safely out of public circulation.

"Sakura-chan," he said quietly, obviously trying to control himself when he saw how frightened she was, "that 'copy' you made is one component in actually performing the Shiki Fuujin. While you probably would have been safe, since I am certain you could not have learned the corresponding hand seals, the consequences would have been more severe than you can imagine if by some chance you had done so. That seal—"

"—offers the soul of the user to a god in exchange for imprisoning the soul of the target, and as long as one is trapped, the other is too," Sakura finished for him in a monotone, her mind numb with fear at what she had been carrying around for the last several months.

"That's what I was going to tell you," she continued in a voice barely above a whisper, when it became apparent the Hokage wasn't going to say anything. "I should have guessed that you would know already, but I just had to…the Fourth's soul is…"

Her eyes filled with tears, and she looked down at her lap, sniffling a little. Even here, she was useless, it seemed—no, worse than useless: dangerous. She didn't know what would have happened if she had somehow performed the Shiki Fuujin, but without her soul in her body, would the Nine-Tails have stayed sealed? Would it have been able to take over her soulless corpse? She had only been trying to learn about her seal, but in her ignorance she might have unleashed the worst horror in the history of the Leaf and made the Fourth's sacrifice meaningless.

"I need to go," Sakura whispered, standing up and crossing blindly over to the door, fumbling for the knob through a haze of tears. "I promise, I'll never do anything like that again. I didn't know…I didn't want to hurt anyone. I'm sorry."

Suddenly she was pulled away from the door and enveloped in something warm and smelling of incense. She struggled for a moment before realizing the Hokage had wrapped a blanket around her and was holding her in his arms. Looking up, she saw him looking back down at her, all the anger vanished from his face to be replaced by a mixture of fondness and worry.

"What am I going to do with you?" he sighed. "Nine years old and able to figure out the central tenet of an S-ranked sealing technique, just by inspecting the resulting seal and reading a single scroll that should be years beyond you."

"I'm sorry," Sakura murmured into the blanket, not even noticing the tears sliding down her cheeks. "I…am I going to have to leave the village? Please don't let them kill me."

"Kill you?" The Hokage sounded horrified at the thought, and she drew some small comfort from that. "No, Sakura-chan; if anything, you have proven today that I was right to argue in favor of your life all those years ago. If you truly did intend harm to us, you would have had no reason to tell me what you had learned and every reason to continue working in secret.

"But," he continued, "I am curious why you chose now to tell me. You said it was because of what you learned about how the technique operates, but I don't understand why that in particular would motivate you to do so."

Sakura frowned, trying to think of how to explain herself. "Well…if the reason the demon's soul is trapped is because the Fourth's is too, then doesn't that mean he'll never be reborn, or be able to move on to…whatever else there is?"

"You are quite correct," the Hokage said, his voice sad, "but you still haven't answered my question. What did you hope to gain by telling me this?"

"I don't know, really," Sakura admitted, frustrated at her inability to make her point. The Hokage seemed to have just accepted the imprisonment of the Fourth's soul as a depressing but unavoidable fact, but Sakura couldn't do the same; it was _wrong_, and she wanted to…

"I want to fix it," she said, her voice quiet at first but gradually gaining strength and confidence as she realized how to put into words what she felt. "I want to learn how he made that seal, and figure out how to make a better one so that his soul can be freed without freeing the demon too. There has to be a better way, and I want to find it."

She felt her face flush as she realized how arrogant she must sound, but to her surprise, the Hokage didn't laugh at her. Instead, he regarded her silently for quite some time, as though he was judging her. Finally, he nodded once, apparently having come to some sort of decision.

"You realize that, while the Fourth created this particular seal in just over a month's time, it is nevertheless a product of the most brilliant fuuinjutsu master in the history of this village—perhaps in any of the villages," he said, his gaze intent upon her. "What you propose is literally the work of a lifetime, and it is quite possible that no solution exists at all."

"I know," Sakura replied, though she was unable to repress a feeling of disappointment at the idea of failing. "I'm not really very good at being a ninja, though. Maybe this is something I can be better at."

To her astonishment, the Hokage actually snorted with laughter, and she blushed again, this time in embarrassment. "Do you have any idea how silly you sound?" he asked her. "Just because you have yet to figure out your strengths doesn't mean you have no potential at all. You've only just finished your first year at the academy."

Meekly, she nodded, not wanting to contradict him. He wasn't finished yet, though. "Still," he said, "sealing techniques would seem to be a better fit for you than most of the other ninja arts, and a little knowledge is, as they say, a dangerous thing. Right now you have a very little knowledge regarding a very dangerous topic. Perhaps the best course of action would be to indulge your curiosity—in a controlled manner.

"If this is truly something you wish to do, once your classes begin again, you will study with me every Saturday afternoon. Outside of those lessons, you absolutely will not try to practice anything I will be teaching you. It's too dangerous, for more reasons than one."

Sakura nodded, barely able to contain her excitement. "I think I understand," she mused. "People would get worried if they knew I was studying anything about seals, wouldn't they? Because of the Nine-Tails."

"Exactly," the Hokage said. "You were very lucky nobody ever realized what scroll you were reading. For the same reason, I think it goes without saying that you are not to tell anyone, even your friends, about our lessons."

Sakura nodded again, and he smiled down at her. "Now, I am afraid I have quite a lot of work to do today," he said, letting her go and unwrapping the blanket from around her. "You should go enjoy the last few days of your break, because you'll be seeing more than enough of me soon."

With that, he sat down behind his desk again and picked up his pen. After bowing to him, Sakura slipped out the door and, ignoring the curious glances the chuunin guards were giving her, left the building feeling better than she had in quite some time.

_The Hokage himself is going to teach me!_ she thought, actually skipping a little from sheer excitement as she walked down the street. _And no matter what, I _will_ find some way to save the Fourth._ Keeping this from her friends—especially Naruto—would be difficult, and she had no doubt that her training would be hard as well, but she was sure everything would be worth it in the end.

- - -

Shikamaru was bored and uncomfortable—something that would have surprised anyone who knew him, he was sure. While it was true he enjoyed few things more than being able to lazily sit under a tree or on a hillside and watch the clouds move through the sky, right now it was cold outside, and it would be getting dark soon as well. Also, he was fairly certain he was sitting on a splinter.

Chouji, who was sitting next to him, looked over at the blonde girl who had so abruptly dragged them out of their comfortable, warm homes and out to this ancient bench on the edge of the Nara family preserve. "Inoooo," he whined, "why are we still here? Naruto still hasn't shown up, and I'm hungry."

"So what else is new?" Ino snapped back, shivering a little as she pulled her light jacket tighter around her. "He didn't tell me what he wanted to talk about, but I bet it's about Sakura. Hinata's finally started acting normal again, sort of, so of course she has to get all weird instead."

"But I thought Sakura is your friend," Chouji said, now looking a little confused. "Aren't you worried?"

Unnoticed by either of them, Shikamaru felt like slapping his forehead. He could have told his friend that that was exactly the wrong thing to say to her; even—no, especially—if Ino was worried about something, there was no chance of getting her to admit it. It was just one of the things that made conversations with her so troublesome. Still, if she was right and that was the only reason Naruto wanted to talk to all of them, he was going to be very annoyed. Why bother worrying about something that would fix itself in time?

As if on cue, a second blond, energetic ninja trainee seemed to appear virtually out of nowhere, hopping onto the bench next to Shikamaru and squashing him uncomfortably against Chouji. The bigger boy scooted over a little, starting a chain reaction of shoving back and forth between him and Ino that ended with the blonde sitting half-off the bench and glaring evilly at him.

"Hi guys!" Naruto greeted them, apparently oblivious to the byplay resulting from his appearance. "Sorry I'm late, but I went to see if Hinata could come too. She's busy with some Hyuuga thing, though." He frowned a little as he said the last part, an expression echoed by Ino.

"She's been doing a lot of that since classes started," Ino said unhappily. "She hasn't slept over at my house at all lately, and she was almost too busy to come to your birthday party."

Naruto nodded, then shrugged. "Oh well," he said, clearly dismissing the matter. "At least she'll talk to me now. But anyways…have any of you noticed anything weird about Sakura?"

His eyes shone with guileless curiosity, and Shikamaru unsuccessfully fought the urge to sigh. _You mean like the way everyone glares at her whenever they see her, and us too if we're with her?_ he thought. _Or how about how none of the teachers except Iruka-sensei ever call on her in class even if she's the only one who knows the answer? And then there's how Ino said her parents specifically told her to stay away from Sakura, at least before she started at the academy._

None of those things were hard to notice, but his friends seemed utterly clueless about them. Finally, wanting to get this whole irritating "secret meeting" over with so he could get back home where it was warm, he was about to tell Naruto what the other boy apparently wanted to hear.

"Well, she's always busy on Saturdays," Ino said, startling him. He hadn't known that, but then, Ino spent far more time with Sakura than he did. "Every Saturday since classes started, I mean, and she wasn't last year. That's weird, isn't it?"

Chouji was nodding slowly, his face scrunched up in thought. "Yeah, and she couldn't come to Naruto's party, remember?" he said. "And I didn't see her at the memorial ceremony that night, either."

Against his will, Shikamaru found himself growing interested in the puzzle that was one Haruno Sakura, and he mentally cursed Naruto for bringing up such a bothersome subject. "Do any of you know when _her_ birthday is?" he was startled to hear himself ask.

A round of blank looks greeted his question. "No…" Ino said, trailing off thoughtfully. "And I'd remember if she told me, because she gave me a really pretty hairpin for mine and I never got her anything back."

"So she's an orphan who lives by herself, we don't know when her birthday is, and hardly anybody, especially the adults, likes her," Shikamaru summed up. "Is that it?"

Naruto looked as though he was trying to figure out whether to say something or not, relenting only when he noticed everyone staring at him. "Well…there is something else," he said reluctantly, "but I think my mother might get mad if I said anything about it. She didn't say to keep it a secret, but…"

Cringing under the glare Ino leveled at him, he hastily continued, "Um, anyways, there's some sort of connection between her and my family. And the Hyuuga, too, I think. I don't know, Mother said she couldn't tell me much."

_Couldn't?_ Shikamaru wondered. _Not wouldn't?_ That seemed like an unusual phrasing, especially coming from someone as formidable as Naruto's mother. In any case, it intrigued him further, and he felt dismayed as he realized that his rarely-indulged sense of curiosity had definitively won the battle with his laziness.

"So, I'll ask Sakura when her birthday is, Naruto—and Hinata too—can figure out what their families have to do with her, and…um…" Ino trailed off, tapping one finger against her chin in thought. The way she casually took charge almost annoyed Shikamaru, but he decided it really wasn't worth caring about, especially when he had no doubt she would get her way in the end regardless of what he said.

"Chouji and I will see if we can find out anything about her family," he said, drawing looks of astonishment from the others, who were no doubt amazed that he had actually volunteered for something. At least this way, though, he would be able to sit inside the library rather than do whatever Ino would come up with; knowing her, it probably would have ended up being something like chasing Sakura around town trying to figure out where she went on Saturdays.

Chouji looked somewhat uncertain, though. "Should we really do this?" he asked. "I mean, Sakura's our friend, so why are we going to spy on her? We should just ask her if we have any questions."

"We're ninja, silly," Ino retorted, sticking her tongue out at him. "Spying on people is in our job description. Or, well, it will be when we finish school."

Shikamaru was fairly certain that didn't extend to spying on one's friends, but, wisely, he chose to remain silent. Besides, she had a point, even if she didn't know it; he had a feeling that even Sakura herself didn't know the answers to some of their questions. Nobody else raised any objections to Ino's plan, and so the four academy students split up to head back to the comfort of their homes—Naruto and Ino obviously eager to start on their parts of the plan, Chouji still appearing unsure, and Shikamaru just hoping his father never found out he was willingly involving himself in something like this.

_Oh well,_ he thought. _I can just blame it all on Ino. He'd definitely believe me then._ Not only was she a Yamanaka, she was a girl, and he remembered his father saying on more than one occasion that it was far more trouble than it was worth to argue with members of either category. Yes, he decided, blaming everything on Ino seemed like an excellent plan.

- - -

Author's Notes: Wow, thank you all very much for the reviews for last chapter! Hopefully this one didn't disappoint anyone. I know I didn't get to the subject of Sakura's mother like I had intended, but it ended up being too much of a disruption to the pacing of the story if I had left it where it was originally, so I decided to move it to next chapter. In any event, hopefully some of the main plot points are clearer after this chapter.

Next chapter should cover up through graduation from the academy--which somewhat leads into a question I have. A few people have already said they would prefer longer chapters, but I've also found that some people don't like it when chapters get too long. It doesn't really make any difference for me (shorter chapters appearing more frequently, or longer chapters less frequently), but I'm curious about which you all prefer. So, if you leave a review, could you add a small note about which you like better?

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!


	6. Five: Overcoming Sorrows

"…now the southern part…fire, with jade to diminish, connected to the east…" Sakura mumbled to herself as she drew out lines and characters in a sand tray with a sharp-pointed metal rod. She had been studying fuuinjutsu with the Hokage for just over four months, but she still found herself surprised anew with every lesson at the sheer complexity of the work. Combining everything from compass directions to colors, parts of the body, and two different sets of elements, the theory behind how seals were created and used was far and away the most difficult—and most interesting—thing she had ever studied.

"And…there!" she exclaimed, resisting the urge to finish off the final character with a flourish. The first thing the Hokage had impressed upon her in their lessons was the importance of precision and accuracy in sealing, and as he had done so by deliberately botching a seal that resulted in the momentary eruption of a ten foot high pillar of white-hot flame from the surface on which he had drawn it, she had taken the warning very seriously.

Standing off to the side where he could observe her without getting in her way, the Hokage nodded. "Not bad, Sakura," he said. "You improved your time by nearly a full minute, and the lines are clean and well-formed. You need to be more careful, though, when drawing the central section."

He walked over to the sand tray and pointed at two of the characters forming the middle of the seal. "Do you see how these are too close together? It isn't critical for seals following this pattern, but some patterns require precise spacing between all characters, particularly those that define the center."

Sakura nodded. "Yes, Sarutobi-shishou," she said, unable to repress a slight feeling of disappointment. Even with the time the Hokage was spending with her—time she was sure he found difficult to spare from his usual duties—sometimes it still seemed like she was progressing at an agonizingly slow pace. The fact that he acted so different from his normal self during the lessons had confused her at first, also, and occasionally she still found the stern, demanding teacher who treated her as his apprentice rather than his granddaughter rather disconcerting.

This was what she had asked for, though, and while she might sometimes wonder if she was good enough to be worth the Hokage's attention, in the end it just made her want to work even harder—particularly after she had found out she was the first student he had taught in decades. He was taking a significant chance with her, especially given who she was, and she was determined to show him how much she appreciated it. Of course, that was sometimes hard to keep in mind when he set especially challenging tasks for her.

"I think we have spent enough time on theory for now," he told her as he brushed the sand in the tray smooth again, leaving no trace of the seal Sakura had drawn there. "Your progress in that area is admirable. Unfortunately, your chakra reserves are still insufficient to activate anything beyond a basic three-character seal, so I want you to take the rest of our lesson today to work on your visualization exercises."

_Chakra again_, Sakura sighed to herself, though she had to admit she needed as much practice in that area as she could get. Settling herself on the ground, she tried to clear her mind as the Hokage had instructed, but was frustrated when memories of her friends refused to leave her alone.

They had been acting strangely ever since a few weeks after classes started again, and she wished she knew what was going on with them, especially since she had a distinct feeling that she was somehow responsible for whatever was making them act so oddly. Finally, after what seemed like forever, she was able to banish the idle thoughts from her mind and proceed with what she was supposed to be doing.

_Picture your body_, she remembered the Hokage saying, _and the channels through which your chakra flows. From the heart and liver to the mind, from your center to your limbs, envision the circulation of your chakra through the coils which constrain it. Relax those constraints, and allow your chakra to expand to fill your entire body. Let it grow beyond its previous bounds._

She understood what the point of the exercise was, of course. While she was unable to see or directly affect her chakra coils in reality, they were still influenced by her unconscious mind. Theoretically, if she performed the exercises regularly enough and with enough concentration, any changes she made to her own visualization of herself would eventually be reflected to some extent on her real self. The concept was somewhat similar to the meditations she had learned in class, yet still quite different, but it seemed to be working about as well as those did—not very.

After over an hour of visualization exercises, Sakura felt like her brain was turning to mush, and she was relieved when the Hokage finally told her she was done for the day. _It really shouldn't be so hard just to sit and think_, she thought, then giggled to herself as she wondered how Naruto would react if she told him she was exhausted from thinking too hard. Somehow, she had a feeling he would say he understood completely, and that thought touched off another round of giggles. Before she realized it, she had arrived back at her apartment, where she promptly fell asleep on the sofa without even removing her coat.

- - -

Sakura glanced nervously out of the window. The sun was beginning to set, and she felt a stab of fear at the knowledge that she was away from her apartment. When the Hokage had rescued her from the orphanage nearly five years ago, he had warned her always to stay inside on the night of her birthday, and up until today, she had always obeyed him—at first simply because she trusted him, then later because she understood his reasoning.

In addition to being her birthday, this was the day the Nine-Tails had attacked the Village of Hidden Leaf itself and the Fourth Hokage had died stopping it. She had always wanted to go to the memorial service for those who had fallen in the village's defense, but she was terrified at the thought of what people might do to her if they saw her there; even her ninja guards might not be enough to deter them on this day, when everyone saw her as a living reminder of all they had lost. Perhaps her guards wouldn't even try to stop any attackers, for no doubt they had lost family or friends eleven years ago as well.

"Helloooo, Sakura-chan!"

Ino's cheerful voice cut through Sakura's musings, and she shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind, focusing on her friend, who was looking at her curiously. "Are you okay?" the blonde girl asked. "You were acting kind of spaced-out there for a minute."

"I'm fine, Ino-chan," Sakura replied, smiling briefly. "Just…thinking about some things." Instantly she knew that was the wrong thing to say, as she could almost literally see her far-too-curious friend's ears perk up.

Much to her surprise, though, Ino simply nodded, visibly forcing her inquisitive nature back under control. "Okay," she said, as she took Sakura's hand and gently tugged her away from the window. "It must be hard, having your birthday be today. Naruto doesn't really like it either, but we try our best to make it happy for him, and now you too."

Sakura still wasn't sure how Ino had found out when her birthday was; she knew she had never told her, or any of her other friends, either. When they had learned of it, though, they had all—even Shikamaru—insisted that she join them for a joint party for both her and Naruto. While she had tried to refuse at first, they had eventually worn her down, and so it was that, against her better judgment, she now found herself at Ino's house rather than safely in her apartment.

"It's almost time to get ready for the memorial ceremony," Ino said, continuing the one-sided conversation. "Naruto and Hinata left a few minutes ago, since they have to meet their parents first. Chouji and Shikamaru and I were going to go over together, and—"

"I can't go," Sakura interrupted, knowing what her friend was going to ask. _Please_, she silently begged, _don't ask why. I can't tell you, and I don't want to lie to you._ She had already had to do too much of that this year, especially where her training with the Hokage was concerned, and she hated it. They were her friends, the first she had ever had, and even though she knew she had no choice in the matter, it almost physically hurt her to lie to them.

Ino studied her intently for a moment, then shrugged—almost too casually, Sakura thought. "Sorry," she said. "I just wanted to…well…"

"It's okay," Sakura said, giving her friend's hand a brief squeeze before releasing it. "I appreciate the invitation, but I just…can't."

The two girls had stepped into the foyer of Ino's house, and Ino opened the door for Sakura. "See you tomorrow, then," she said, "even if I'm not sure I should forgive you for leaving me alone with Chouji and Shikamaru."

"Sorry," Sakura said in as apologetic a voice as she could manage, then promptly ruined the effect by sticking her tongue out. "And thanks for the party. It really…today was the best birthday I've ever had." Giving her friend another smile, she waved goodbye and turned to leave. It wasn't quite dark yet, and she hoped to get home before the sun had completely set.

Several blocks away from her apartment, she was forced to turn onto a narrow side street in order to avoid a large group of people, all wearing formal kimonos and smelling of sake. She thought she recognized some of her neighbors, a thought which was confirmed a moment later when they drew close enough for her to hear them talking.

"So she wasn't in her apartment?" one man, appearing less drunk than the rest, asked another. "You don't think she'd try going to the memorial, do you?"

The other man laughed, a short, ugly sound that sent a shiver up Sakura's spine. "Nah," he said, "demons aren't stupid. She knows what we'd do to her if we found her there. I bet she's off hiding somewhere, maybe even crying over her parents. Like they'd have cared about something like her."

Sakura's attention was instantly riveted to the conversation. Aside from a few vague, offhand mentions of them, she knew essentially nothing of her mother or father. When she was younger, she had occasionally wondered what had happened to them, but ever since she found out about the Nine-Tails sealed within her, she had decided she might be better off not knowing their fates. Now, though, she found herself unable to ignore the two men as they spoke, and she swore softly as the group moved out of earshot.

Quickly running through a short series of hand seals, she whispered, "Henge." Though she would only be able to maintain the illusion for a few minutes, it should allow her to follow them without being recognized. After glancing at her reflection in a shop window, she nodded once, satisfied at the change; her distinctive pink hair was now a dull brown, and her face and body looked subtly older and more mature. Resolutely ignoring the uneasy feeling in the back of her mind, she set out to follow the group, making sure to stay just within hearing range.

"…still ended up better than his wife," she heard the second man say to his companion, a sneer evident in his voice. "At least he died fighting, not sitting in the bath with his wrists slit."

The first man grunted something that might have been an acknowledgement. "Not like she was a ninja, though," he said. "Still, she could've done us all a favor and drowned her brat first."

Both men laughed. "Ain't that the truth," the second one said. "I guess you have to feel kind of sorry for her. Knowing your kid got turned into the monster that killed your husband…that's got to be enough to drive anyone crazy."

Sakura felt like someone had kicked her in the stomach, and for an agonizing few moments, she literally found herself unable to breathe as her vision blurred before her. As if from a great distance, she felt her henge slip away from her, but she could only lean against the cold wall of the nearest building and fight for breath. The men she had been following were some distance away now, along with the rest of the people they were with—too far away for her to hear anything, but she had heard enough. More than enough.

Perhaps it was simply because she had never known either of her parents, but after her initial distress wore off, she found she was possessed of a certain crystalline clarity of mind. In one of her classes a few months ago, a medic-nin had talked about the psychological effects of shock, and one of the things he had said was that the most common reaction to a traumatic event was numbness, an inability for the mind to process information. As she made her way back to her apartment, she wished desperately for that numbness.

_At least now I know why nobody ever told me about what happened to them_, she thought. Part of her wanted to blame the Hokage for keeping this information from her, as otherwise she wouldn't have had to find out by eavesdropping on two drunks, but she could understand why he had never told her. It certainly wasn't something she wanted to know, and she cursed the insatiable desire for knowledge that had led her to follow the men. Unlike her research into her seal, she failed to see how anything good could come from learning what she had that night.

"My mother hated me so much that she killed herself rather than live with me," Sakura whispered, slumping against the front door of her apartment. Saying it aloud seemed to shatter some kind of barrier within her, and she barely made it inside before falling to her knees and burying her face in her hands. She felt too drained even to cry, though, and within moments she was stretched out full-length on the floor in restless slumber.

- - -

"I miss her."

Naruto looked over at Hinata. He didn't have to ask who she was talking about, and he nodded. "Me too," he said, watching the subject of their conversation walk away from them, her head down and her eyes fixed on some point on the ground in front of her.

"It's not fair," Hinata muttered. "Why won't she even talk to us? She's been like this ever since the day after the party we had for you two, and she won't tell us what's wrong. Did we do something to her?"

Naruto shrugged. He was as clueless as his friend—as all of his friends, really. More than three months had passed since Sakura stopped talking to them, or to anyone else. She wouldn't even answer questions in class, and Naruto had once overheard Iruka-sensei yelling at her about how she was failing to complete her assignments as well. In practical lessons, she didn't even try; before, her henge had been the best in the class technically, even if she couldn't hold it for as long as anyone else, but now she outright refused to perform the technique.

"I'm worried, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, voicing his unspoken thoughts. "She…she reminds me of how I was at the end of our first year, when Father tried to keep me away from all of you, and I…hurt her."

Taking Hinata by the elbow, Naruto pulled her into the ramen stall they were walking past. The two of them had come to this one several times before, and the owner looked up from his bubbling pot and loudly greeted them. Hinata looked confused for a moment when Naruto ordered two large bowls of ramen, as it was only mid-afternoon, then laughed. It was a short, somewhat sad laugh, but in his mind, anything was better than the depressed look which had been on her face since they started talking.

"You know me," he said, grinning at her, "can't do any serious thinking without some ramen for energy." The happy expression slid off his face, though, when she failed to respond; normally, she would have teased him about his fondness for the decidedly unhealthy noodles, but today she simply nodded and took a seat beside him.

_Great, definitely a very depressed Hinata today_, he thought, suppressing a sigh, and he wondered what had happened in the Hyuuga household to cause her to act like this. While he was happy for his friend that she had started standing up for herself against her father at times, he could always tell when she had been involved in a particularly nasty argument with the elder Hyuuga.

"It'll be all right, Hinata-chan," he said softly. "Remember after first year? You told me you were sure Sakura wouldn't want to be your friend any more—well, once you started talking to me again, at least—but she forgave you right away. I was worried about you, then, but Mother said I just had to give you time. Maybe that's what we need to do for her now."

Hinata blinked, then openly stared at Naruto, her expression one of astonishment. "It's too bad we can't take our tests here, huh?" she teased, a hesitant smile appearing on her face. "I guess ramen really does make you think better, because I know you couldn't have come up with that otherwise."

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed, feigning outrage even while he inwardly cheered at the change, however slight, in her mood—though he couldn't help but feel a bit indignant. "I may not be smart like Sakura or Shikamaru, but I can figure things out too."

"Speaking of Shikamaru, has he found what he was looking for yet?" Hinata asked. "I remember he said he might have figured something out about Sakura's parents, but he didn't actually say what he was trying to find."

Naruto, caught by surprise at the change of subject, scratched his head as he tried to remember what exactly the spiky-haired boy had said during the last meeting of what he had privately taken to calling the Stalking Sakura Club. True, the whole thing had initially been his idea, but Ino had taken it to an undreamed-of level over the past year—with the surprising support of the laziest ninja trainee in the village, who had apparently decided to take it as a personal affront that he was unable to learn anything more than the most basic details regarding their pink-haired friend.

"Oh, yeah, I remember. He said…um…well, her father died when the Nine-Tails attacked. He was in ANBU, I think." Both of them were silent for a moment. Even after eleven years, the village had yet to recover from the loss of so many experienced ninja when the demon had attacked.

For Naruto, the loss was both more and less personal—more, because his father had died that day only hours after he had been born, but less because in many ways, he found himself unable to separate the stories of the man his father had been from the legends that had sprung up about the Fourth Hokage. Even his mother had admitted once that she sometimes had trouble remembering her husband, rather than the savior of the village. It was the only time in his life that he had ever seen her cry.

"So he didn't say anything about her mother?" Hinata's question startled him, and he almost upset the bowl of ramen in front of him. She was looking at him, concern evident in her eyes, and he knew she had realized what he was thinking of.

Taking a moment to be thankful that he had a friend like her, Naruto shook his head. "No, but he said something about how that was really strange, because he couldn't even find basic records on her. I think he found a marriage certificate, but that's it."

Granted, the other boy had made liberal use of phrases like "waste of effort" and "troublesome lack of information," but Naruto had gotten the basic idea. He himself was starting to think that maybe their efforts were in vain; while his curiosity was still as strong as it ever had been—more so, really, since it definitely appeared that there was some sort of concerted official effort being made to cover up Sakura's past—so far they had found virtually nothing, and they were running out of places to look.

Some of this must have shown on his face, as Hinata gave him an encouraging smile. "Don't worry," she said. "We'll figure out whatever is bothering Sakura, and everything will be fine again."

"I thought I was supposed to be the one cheering you up," Naruto joked weakly, returning her smile. He swallowed the last bit of broth from his second bowl of ramen and set down some coins to pay for the meal, then stood up to leave. It was only as he was halfway outside the stall that he noticed Hinata had not joined him.

"Go ahead," she told him, her smile of a moment earlier having almost completely vanished. "I think I'm hungry after all, but I don't want to make you wait." He would have pressed her for more information, but it was clear from her tone that she did not want to talk about her reasons for lingering at the ramen stall rather than heading home.

Naruto was not someone who easily or quickly grew to hate others, but at that moment he was certain he hated Hyuuga Hiashi. Trying as hard as he could to hide his emotions from his friend, who still looked up to her father despite everything he had done and continued to do to her in his relentless attempts to turn her into his perfect heir, he waved goodbye and left.

- - -

"Next!" Iruka called out, giving a brief nod to Nara Shikamaru, who headed back to his seat. The boy's performance had been adequate—certainly sufficient to pass—but nothing spectacular. Iruka had a feeling he was rather more talented than he ever demonstrated in class, but all attempts to force him to reveal that hidden ability had failed, defeated by Shikamaru's own pervasive apathy. Still, being underestimated was far from the worst thing that could happen to a ninja, so part of him had to admire the boy for concealing himself so well—assuming it was done on purpose, of course, which he sometimes found himself doubting.

"Henge, my body," he told the next student who walked up to his desk, not bothering to look up from his grade records. With the graduation exams now only a semester away, reviews were in full swing, and he was determined to have all of his students capable of performing at least the three most basic ninjutsu taught at the academy.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei," came the quiet response, and he took a moment to glance over at her and smile encouragingly. After spending the past three and a half years teaching her, it was impossible for him to think of Haruno Sakura as any sort of demon, and he occasionally wished he had taken it upon himself to get to know her outside of class. The shy, studious girl was a far cry from how he himself had been at that age, but at times he thought he could see a familiar loneliness in her eyes.

Sakura expertly moved her fingers through the short sequence of hand seals for the technique, then murmured "Henge," almost inaudibly. Her body seemed to blur and stretch for a moment, and then Iruka could have sworn he was looking into a mirror. Every stray hair and crease in his duplicate's clothing was correct, and he nodded approvingly.

He had been slightly worried at first, when he saw to whom he had given the henge assignment, as something had happened a little over a year ago to cause Sakura to dislike the technique. For almost a full semester, she had refused to perform it at all, but thankfully she had changed her mind at some point. Henge was, despite its simplicity, a very important tool in the arsenal of any ninja assigned to espionage or counter-espionage duties, and Iruka had not been looking forward to failing her if she had continued in her refusal.

Aside from that incident, she consistently proved to be above-average overall; though her taijutsu skills were barely good enough to pass her classes and her chakra reserves were still quite small—albeit larger than he had projected her achieving while at the academy—Sakura made up for those weaknesses with her academic brilliance and a seemingly instinctive level of chakra control, as though manipulating chakra was more something she could do as naturally as breathing than something on which she had to consciously focus. He would miss the girl when she graduated, he realized suddenly, and marveled at how his opinion of her had changed from that first day when he saw her in his classroom.

"Sensei?" he heard her ask, interrupting his thoughts, and he looked over to see her still standing next to his desk in her henge form. Taking a closer look, he could see telltale signs of strain on "her" face, and he winced in sympathy when he realized he hadn't told her she could release the technique. No doubt she was nearing the limits of her chakra reserves, as this was the last class of the day and the students had been practicing other techniques earlier.

"Very good," he told her. "You can stop now and go sit down."

With a relieved look on her face, Sakura formed the releasing seal, her borderline exhaustion even more evident when she returned to her true form—though, Iruka was pleased to note, she showed none of it as she walked back to her seat. Learning to hide one's weaknesses was yet another important lesson for a ninja. As he looked over at the number of students still lined up waiting to be tested, he sighed. The last class of the day always seemed to drag on the longest.

"Next!"

- - -

Sakura was finding her self-control sorely tested by the wait for her name to be called. So far, the graduation exams had ranged from absurdly simple to almost impossible, but she had managed to pass them all, and now it was the last day. If she passed this one last test, she would officially be a ninja of the Hidden Leaf, and she was barely able to maintain an appropriate veneer of indifference as she sat and waited. Next to her, Ino was having even less success, as Sakura could tell that she was about ready to start pounding on poor Chouji, who had been the first one called by Iruka-sensei and now refused to share any details of what he had had to do.

"Come on…just a little hint?" her blonde friend whined, poking Chouji in the shoulder. "I'm the last one to go in the entire class, and it's driving me crazy!"

The large brown-haired boy rolled his eyes and sighed. "No, it's driving _me_ crazy. Iruka-sensei said not to tell anyone, especially you. Wasn't hard, though," he added grudgingly.

As Ino spluttered in indignation at the thought that she had been singled out by their teacher, Sakura snickered. She doubted very much that Iruka-sensei had said anything of the sort, but she had to admit, it was a good way to make Ino stop talking for at least a few minutes. Chouji had a way of handling their excitable friend that left Sakura in awe at times.

Looking around the room, she spotted her other friends in various stages of nervousness, and she couldn't help but smile. Shikamaru, not surprisingly, had his head down on his desk and appeared to be sound asleep, while Naruto had just been called to the other room. As he walked confidently over to the door, he turned to grin back at everyone, and Sakura's smile widened. He would do fine, she knew; the last test was on ninjutsu, and he was tied with Uchiha Sasuke for top of the class at that.

Hinata, who had been sitting next to him, would have looked calm to a casual observer, but Sakura could tell it was mostly an act. She could see hints of dark circles under her friend's pale eyes, and she wondered how much time Hinata had put into training for the exams—particularly the taijutsu portion, where she had surprised everyone by defeating Mizuki-sensei, the examiner, with almost humiliating ease. That had been more than sufficient to secure her place as best in the class at that discipline, but Sakura had not missed how she seemed more relieved than excited afterwards.

Not for the first time, she wondered whether it was better to be an orphan, or to have a father like Hinata's. That had been what finally succeeded in pulling her out of her months-long depression over what she had discovered about how her parents had died. Nearly a year ago, she had been walking in the park when she came across Hinata sitting hunched-over on a bench, tears trickling from the corners of her eyes even as she was obviously trying to keep herself from crying.

Though Sakura had not spoken with her for months, she had been unable to walk away from the sight of one of her best friends in such obvious distress. When she sat down next to Hinata, the smaller girl had at first simply stared at her, flushing scarlet in humiliation at having been seen, but then had begun to talk—slowly at first, then faster, as though the words had been bottled up inside her for so long that she was unable to hold them back any more. Sakura had learned of the mounting pressure upon Hinata as the end of her time at the academy approached, especially after her cousin Neji graduated at the top of his class, and in return she shared what she could of what she had learned regarding her mother's suicide. The two girls had continued to talk until long after the sun had set, and by the end, Sakura felt ready to face her friends again, and Hinata her father and cousin.

"Haruno Sakura!" Iruka-sensei's voice, sounding decidedly irritable, snapped her out of her wandering thoughts, and she became aware of Ino frantically shaking her shoulder.

"Sakura," the blonde girl hissed, "wake up! It's your turn. Honestly, you're as bad as Shikamaru sometimes." The words were spoken with a broad grin, though, and Sakura could tell she was barely able to contain her excitement for her friend. Squeaking in surprise, Sakura scrambled to her feet and made her way over to the door into the testing room at a pace only a little under a run.

"Here, Iruka-sensei," she said, trying to keep from blushing as she closed the door behind her. To her chagrin, she saw that he was not the only teacher in the room, and she felt her face redden—though in anger rather than embarrassment—when she noticed Mizuki-sensei. With a vicious sense of satisfaction, she noted that his left ankle and wrist were still bandaged from the sprains Hinata had inflicted during their match.

"Good," Iruka-sensei replied, apparently not noticing the glaring match between his student and colleague. "For your final test, I want you to demonstrate the bunshin technique for us. You will be graded on the number of clones you produce, with a minimum of one needed in order to pass, as well on as the physical accuracy of each clone."

_That's it?_ Sakura couldn't help but think. Even she could create up to two clones at a time, and accuracy was hardly a problem for her either. She shrugged; if that was all it took, she was hardly going to complain.

"Bunshin no jutsu," she said confidently, forming the hand seals with practiced ease. As she completed the last seal, two identical copies of her body formed, one on either side of her, and they mirrored her expectant grin as she looked over at Iruka-sensei.

Mizuki-sensei snorted. "Only two?" he asked, frowning. "One may be the bare minimum, but all _real_ ninja can create at least three."

"Producing two perfectly flawless clones is quite sufficient," Iruka-sensei said mildly. He marked something on his grade sheet and nodded at Sakura. "Very good, Haruno-kun. You may release the technique and go back to the classroom—and please remember not to talk about the test until everyone has finished it."

Sakura dispelled her clones and bowed to Iruka-sensei, then, glaring over her shoulder at Mizuki-sensei one last time, opened the door and all but skipped back to her seat. Even the scowls directed at her by a few of her classmates were insufficient to dampen her mood.

_I really did it!_ she thought, unable to keep from pinching herself to see if she was sleeping. It was literally a dream come true for her, especially when she saw all of her friends' faces smiling back at her.

- - -

Author's Notes: Well, this chapter took somewhat longer than expected, but I've been rather busy at work recently. Thank you all very much for the reviews for last chapter; I love reading them, and I appreciate the time you all take in writing them. Hopefully this chapter didn't disappoint anyone, but please feel free to let me know if it did (or, of course, if you enjoyed it). Also, many thanks for the comments regarding chapter size. Based on those, I'll plan to keep chapters around the same size they've been up until now.

I doubt I'll be less busy any time soon, so unfortunately I don't expect to be able to go back to my previous update pace. I would rather not rush chapters out before I'm convinced they're ready, though. Next chapter will deal with the first meeting of Sakura's genin team, among other things. As always, thank you all for reading this, and I hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Six: To See Clearly

The silence seemed to stretch on forever as Iruka waited for the Hokage to finish looking over the genin team assignments he had drawn up. While he had gone through this in past years as well, the approval process had always been more of a technicality; though he supposed he could understand the exceptional amount of attention the Hokage was paying to this year's teams, it did somewhat grate on his sensibilities. After all, he had taught his students for nearly four years, and it was almost insulting to think that he might not know the best way to organize them. Still, it was the Hokage's prerogative—albeit one rarely exercised—to alter the team assignments in any way he chose, so Iruka supposed he had little choice in the matter.

Finally, the Hokage looked up from the papers and nodded approvingly. "Very good work," he said. "I agree with your division of the students, though I am afraid I cannot allow you to take credit for it. I suspect that one—perhaps two—of this year's jounin-sensei will be unhappy with their teams, and it would be better for that dislike to be directed at me than at you."

"I understand, Hokage-sama," Iruka replied, feeling more than a little relieved. While he had not considered the reactions of the jounin-sensei, he knew that many people, including those in positions of power, would likely be upset with him if they learned not only that he had allowed Haruno Sakura to graduate but also who he had assigned to be her teammates.

Because of his duties as an academy teacher, he was in somewhat of a precarious legal position; technically, as a chuunin, he fell under the Hokage's authority with all the other village ninja, but as a teacher for children who were still considered civilians until graduation, he could conceivably find himself answerable to the village council. While he doubted that they had any grounds to press actual charges, they could—and probably would—make his life difficult in many other ways. Fortunately, the Hokage had apparently considered the same thing and found a tidy solution that would preserve both the team arrangements and Iruka's standing in the village.

Just then, there was a knock on the closed office door, and he heard the voice of one of the chuunin guards outside say, "Hokage-sama, the last jounin-sensei assigned to Umino Iruka's class has arrived. Shall I start sending them in?"

Iruka thought he heard the Hokage mutter, "And only an hour and a half late, too," but couldn't be sure. More loudly, he called out, "Send them all in. I still have another appointment after this, so I would like to finish as quickly as possible."

The door opened, and three jounin—two men and a woman—entered the office. Of the three, Iruka only recognized one of the men by sight, though he had read all of their profiles while creating the genin teams. For a moment, he wondered which of them the Hokage expected to protest their team assignments, then shrugged. That, at least, would not be his problem.

"Let's begin," the Hokage said abruptly. "Sarutobi Asuma, you will lead the team consisting of Akimichi Chouji, Nara Shikamaru, and Yamanaka Ino. While their exact training is left to your discretion, academy exercises indicate that they have significant potential as an infiltration team. Do you have any questions?"

The man Iruka had not recognized shook his head. "None," he answered. "Though, if they're anything like their fathers, this should be interesting."

"Dismissed, then," the Hokage said, and Iruka could have sworn he was hiding a smirk. "Next. Yuuhi Kurenai, you will lead the team consisting of Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Uchiha Sasuke. As you are aware, you are under consideration for transfer into ANBU, and you may consider this assignment a preliminary test of your leadership skills. In keeping with their natural abilities, you will be expected to train your genin as a hunter squad. Do you have any questions?"

"No, Hokage-sama," the woman said, sounding somewhat puzzled, "though I would have thought the Hyuuga girl would be more suitable for a hunter team than the Uchiha, given the capabilities of her Byakugan."

Beside her, the second man—Hatake Kakashi—looked as though he very much wanted to protest, though it was hard to tell given the mask covering the lower half of his face and the fact that he continued to read the book he had brought with him. As the only person in the village with a sharingan eye, no doubt he had been expecting to have the Uchiha boy in his team, but Iruka had been concerned that that similarity could easily lead to favoritism towards Sasuke over his other team members once he manifested his own sharingan.

"Neither of the other two possess particularly strong ninjutsu abilities, Yuuhi-san," the Hokage said, "and as such I deemed it more important to include someone skilled in distance attacks rather than another tracker. In addition, I have received interesting information regarding the possibilities of combining the sharingan with genjutsu. As a genjutsu specialist, you will be in a good position to help the Uchiha experiment with this if and when his sharingan appear."

Appearing satisfied by this explanation, Kurenai bowed and left, leaving Iruka alone with the Hokage and Kakashi. The tension in the office had risen dramatically, and he wished he had taken the opportunity to slip out at some point. Though Kakashi had not stopped reading his book, it was quite clear that he was not happy, and Iruka had no desire to be even peripherally exposed to his temper.

Much to his surprise, though, the legendary jounin simply said in a bored voice, "So that leaves me with Kazama, Hyuuga, and Haruno, right? It'll be a shame to fail Sensei's kid because of the demon brat, and old man Hyuuga probably won't be too happy either, but whatever." Giving an indolent wave, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, never having once looked up from whatever he was reading.

_Uh-oh_, Iruka thought, risking a glance out of the corner of his eye over at the Hokage. He fully expected to see the man fuming with anger, but was astonished to note that he actually seemed quite calm. With a small, mysterious smile, he leaned back in his chair and pulled out a pipe, which he lit with a tiny fire technique and began to puff on contentedly.

"Hokage-sama?" Iruka ventured after a minute, as the older man appeared to have completely forgotten his presence. "Um…do you need me for anything else?"

"Ah, my apologies," the Hokage said around his pipe, not bothering to look over in Iruka's direction. "No, you may go. Please inform Sakura that she may come in, if you see her as you leave."

Iruka bowed and left. Though he was unsure why Sakura would be waiting to see the Hokage, he smiled as he saw her in the outer office, proudly wearing her new forehead protector. "The Hokage says you can go in now," he told her. "And…Haruno-kun? Congratulations. Don't let anyone tell you that you haven't earned that."

He was rewarded with a deep blush followed by a dazzling smile as she jumped up from her seat and practically ran over to the door to the Hokage's private office. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei," she said softly, looking back over her shoulder before closing the door behind her and leaving him with the two chuunin guards, both of whom were looking at him oddly.

"What?" he asked, before realizing that they were probably wondering why he had said something so kind to the dreaded demon vessel. Rolling his eyes, he shrugged and left the office, barely even considering that just a few years ago, he would have thought his actions just as strange as the guards no doubt did.

- - -

"You wanted to talk to me, Sa—um…Hokage-ojiisan?" Sakura asked as she closed the door behind her. Flushing a little at the near-slip of her tongue—the Hokage had asked her to continue referring to him by his title outside of their lessons together—she sat down in one of the chairs near his desk and waited for him to finish whatever he was writing. While she hoped she was portraying the appropriate amount of decorum and patience, inwardly she was still charged with more restless energy than she could ever remember having in her life.

Almost unconsciously, one hand stole upwards to touch the unfamiliar texture of her—_her!­_—Hidden Leaf forehead protector, and she couldn't help but smile as she felt the embossed spiral insignia on its metal plate. A quiet chuckle interrupted the stillness of the room, but there was no mockery in it, and when she self-consciously jerked her hand back down to her lap, the Hokage shook his head at her.

"Enjoy this moment," he said, standing up from his desk and walking over to sit down across from her. "There will be others, but perhaps none quite so free of regrets. Every success after this will be at the expense of another, perhaps even one of your friends, so you should not feel embarrassed for treasuring this one that you can share with them."

Hesitantly, Sakura nodded. She was unsure of what exactly the Hokage meant by what he said, but it was clear that it was significant at least to him—and as he was her teacher, she supposed that meant it should be significant to her as well. Some of her confusion must have shown on her face, though, as he laughed and shook his head, dispelling in an instant the pensive mood that had come over him a few moments earlier.

"Never mind that. This is supposed to be a happy day for you, and you certainly don't need me spoiling it. Now, as for what I wanted to talk with you about, I am sure you are aware that tomorrow you and your classmates will be divided into teams of three, each with its own jounin leader and instructor. Have you considered what this might mean for you, though?"

Sakura began to shake her head, then stopped, suddenly having a horrible thought. "Does…does it mean that you won't be teaching me any more?" she asked, feeling her cheerfulness evaporate at the idea.

"Nothing of the sort," the Hokage answered, so firmly that she couldn't help but be reassured by the words. "While you may sometimes be unable to attend our sessions in the future, I will only stop teaching you when I feel you no longer have anything you need to learn from me. You are somewhat correct, though, in that I do wish to discuss your lessons.

"More specifically," he continued, "I am sure you remember how I insisted that you not tell anyone you have been taking lessons from me, and especially not _what_ those lessons are covering. While I must still hold you to those conditions for the most part, I think it wise to make an exception now. A team cannot function if its members keep secrets from each other, especially where those secrets concern abilities that may be important to the team's success or even survival."

What he was implying was obvious, but Sakura asked anyways, just to be certain. "You want me to tell my team about our lessons, and how I've been learning fuuinjutsu? But…what if other people find out, or my teammates think it's bad?"

Much to her confusion, the Hokage simply smiled at her. "I will not insist that you speak to them," he said, "but I do insist that you consider the benefits of doing so. The possible problems you mention are just that—only possible—and I suspect you may find them less of an issue than you currently think."

_It makes sense_, Sakura admitted to herself, albeit somewhat grudgingly. Still, it would depend on who her teammates were; there was no way she would _ever_ willingly share something private with Inuzuka Kiba, for example. She wasn't even exactly sure how teams were assigned; if her possible teammates were only her classmates, she had a good chance of being on a team with her friends, but the odds were much less favorable if the selection widened to include everyone in their year. She had seen her yearmates in a few combined classes, and she had recognized more than a few of her tormenters from her pre-academy school among them.

"You worry too much, Sakura-chan," the Hokage said, as though he could read her thoughts, and reached over to lay a comforting hand on her arm. "Just think about what I said. Now, I do believe that celebratory dinners are customary on special occasions, and your academy graduation certainly qualifies. Is there anything in particular that you're hungry for?"

Overcome by a sudden wave of affection for the man who had been part-teacher, part-grandfather to her for the past several years, Sakura impulsively stood up and hugged him. She had been expecting to spend this night as she did most others, though perhaps indulging herself a little by buying some sweet dumplings to celebrate her graduation. Her friends were all busy with their own families, no doubt, and while she was sure they didn't mean to exclude her, that didn't make her own situation any less lonely. Now, though, it seemed like everything had turned out perfectly after all.

"I…anything would be fine with me," she replied, putting aside the questions of who her teammates would be and how much she could tell them. She could worry about that tomorrow, but tonight she would be happy and celebrate.

- - -

"Ooh, I can't wait!" Ino exclaimed, clasping her hands together and bouncing a little in her seat.

Sakura barely restrained herself from throttling her best friend. _That has to be at least the seventh time she's said that…in the last ten minutes_, she thought, rolling her eyes. All of this year's academy graduates had gathered together—after lunch, thankfully, as she had stayed up quite late the previous night thinking about what the Hokage had said to her—and were now waiting for the teachers to show up and announce the genin team assignments. Some, needless to say, were waiting with rather less patience than others.

Then the voice of her unlikely savior sounded from the seat next to her. "Ino-chan, if you say that one more time, I'm going to tell your dad that you asked him to cook a special dinner for you in order to celebrate your graduation."

Chouji, who was seated on Ino's other side, looked over at Naruto in horror. "That's beyond cruel, Naruto," he said, frowning deeply. Chouji tended to take threats involving food—or, in this case, the mess that Ino's father made of food—very seriously. If possible, Ino herself looked even more aghast at the prospect, though Sakura supposed that was to be expected, given that she had actually experienced the horrifying ordeal that was a meal prepared by Yamanaka Inoichi.

"Can't you all just be quiet?" asked a disinterested voice, followed by a long sigh. Apparently they had succeeded in waking Shikamaru, and even though he was sitting on Chouji's far side and she couldn't see him, Sakura could picture his sleepily indignant expression.

"Sorry!" Naruto and Ino chorused, before looking at each other and snickering. The two blondes' expressions were eerily similar, and for a moment she shuddered at the realization that she was sitting in between them if they decided to try anything. Hinata cast her a sympathetic look over Naruto's shoulder but appeared rather relieved not to be in that situation herself.

Just then, though, Iruka-sensei walked in, accompanied by a group of unfamiliar older ninja, and every student's attention was instantly fixed on him. As she saw the list in his hands, Sakura felt the weight in her stomach that her friends' antics had managed to dispel reappear, heavier than ever, and she thought for a moment that she might be sick. Instead, she felt a hand reassuringly squeeze her own, and as she looked to her side and saw Ino's excited smile, she couldn't help but smile back.

Up at the front of the classroom, Iruka-sensei had begun reading the list of teams, but Sakura found herself unable to focus on them past the nervous flutterings in her stomach. As the students—no, genin, now—heard their names, three by three they left the classroom along with their jounin-sensei, until finally only two jounin and the members of Sakura's own class remained. For one terrible instant, she wondered if her graduation had been a mistake somehow and she wouldn't be assigned to a team after all, but then she told herself she was being silly. Even if that was the case, it would still leave two of her classmates without a team, and she was sure none of them had failed.

Then the last vestiges of her worry disappeared as Iruka-sensei said, "Team Seven will be made up of Kazama Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, and Haruno Sakura. Unfortunately—" here he paused for a moment, looking distinctly annoyed— "your jounin-sensei has yet to arrive, so please remain in the room for now."

For a moment, Sakura honestly thought she was about to faint. An endless stream of _'Is this really happening?'_ ran through her head, and it was only when she realized that Naruto was poking her in the shoulder that she regained some sense of reality. Looking around, she saw that she, Naruto, and Hinata were the only people left in the room, and she wondered what had happened to everyone else.

"Are you okay?" Hinata asked, a concerned look on her face. "Ino tried to say something to you before she left with Chouji and Shikamaru, but you just sat there and acted like you didn't even hear her. You're not upset because we're on your team…are you?"

Hinata looked so disappointed at even the idea of that that Sakura shook her head as emphatically as she could, sending her normally tied-back hair flying in a cloud around her face. "No!" she exclaimed, loudly enough that Naruto jumped a little.

"Of course not—how could I be? I was just surprised, because I was so worried that I wouldn't be on a team with any of my friends. And then…no, I'm not upset at all," she continued, more quietly, before breaking out into a smile so wide it made her face hurt.

Beside her, Naruto grinned as well. "Naturally," he said, nodding sagely. "After all, who could be upset about being on the great Naruto's team? And Hinata-chan's too, of course."

"Of course," Sakura muttered, rolling her eyes at him, then giggled as Hinata slapped his arm. "So, where is our jounin-sensei?" she asked after a glance over at the wall clock. "If he was supposed to be here for the announcements, he's already almost half an hour late."

Naruto and Hinata shrugged in unison. "Don't know," Naruto said. "Before he left, Iruka-sensei told us he probably wouldn't be here for a while—I guess that was while you were out of it—but he didn't say how long we have to wait for him."

"Until he gets here, probably," Hinata added, sounding faintly annoyed at the prospect. "I think my father knows who it is, but he wouldn't tell me. He didn't seem very happy, though."

_Well, that sounds like a fairly good recommendation already_, Sakura thought. Anybody Hinata's father didn't like couldn't be all that bad, even if he apparently didn't have a very good sense of time. One look at Naruto showed that he was undoubtedly thinking the same thing, and they shared a tiny grin before turning back to their pale-eyed friend.

Fortunately, before Hinata could inquire into the reason for their behavior, the classroom door opened and the strangest-looking ninja Sakura had ever seen walked in, reading a small orange book. He appeared perfectly normal from the neck down, wearing a standard-issue utility jacket over a black uniform, but he also had a mask covering nearly his entire face and a mess of bizarrely-styled greyish hair that seemed to stand straight up from his head. Perhaps most strangely, his forehead protector was fastened such that it slanted down over his left eye, and she found herself wondering what kind of injury was concealed beneath it.

"Sharingan Kakashi," she heard Naruto whisper from beside her. She wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but apparently the strange jounin had heard him as well, as he suddenly looked up from his book.

"Yes, I am Hatake Kakashi," he said, glancing at each of the three genin. Sakura shivered as his gaze seemed to linger on her, the look in his single visible eye sharp and unforgiving. Though most of his face was hidden, she had a sinking feeling that, as with most of the rest of the village, her new jounin-sensei did not like her at all.

"I was going to tell you all to come to the roof with me so we could introduce ourselves," Kakashi continued, favoring Naruto with a look far more friendly than the one he had given her, "but on second thought I'd rather just get this over with. So, who wants to start? Your name, hobbies, likes, dislikes, and dreams."

"Um…Kakashi-sensei," Hinata said hesitantly, looking as though she was unsure what to make of the jounin's request, "maybe you could start? Just—just so we have an idea of what to say."

"Fine," Kakashi said, his tone one of unbelievable boredom. "You know my name. I have plenty of hobbies. I like…some things, and I dislike others. My dreams…" He trailed off, then shrugged.

_Great,_ Sakura thought, though she very carefully said nothing aloud for fear of attracting Kakashi's attention again, _we still don't know anything about him._

"I'll start, then," Naruto said, sounding just as annoyed with their new teacher as she felt. "I'm Kazama Naruto. My hobbies are training with my mother and eating ramen. I like spending time with my friends, and I dislike people who are mean to them. My dream is to make my father's spirit proud of me."

Unaccountably, Sakura felt herself panic at his last words. How could she share her own dream with Naruto sitting right next to her? She could try to lie, but she had a feeling their new jounin-sensei would know if she did, and she very much did not want to give him any more reasons to dislike her than he already had. Still, what choice did she have? The Hokage had requested—very nearly insisted—that she tell her teammates about her studies, but she was certain he didn't intend for her to include the reason for them, as that would require her to tell them about the Nine-Tails.

Meanwhile, unaware of Sakura's internal dilemma, Hinata began to speak—at first uncertainly, then gradually with more confidence. "My—my name is Hyuuga Hinata. My hobbies are…um…training, and also gardening and making herbal medicines. I like my friends. I dislike…" She looked down at her feet for a moment, then continued, "My dream is to become strong so I can…be a good head of house someday."

Wondering what her shy friend disliked so much that she couldn't even say the words, Sakura almost missed the others' inquisitive stares before realizing that they were waiting for her to say something. "Oh! My name is Haruno Sakura. My hobbies are reading and studying, and I like my friends too. I dislike how people always seem to hate me before they even know me," she said, summoning up the courage to stare right at her new teacher's single visible eye, "and my dream—well, I guess it's more of a goal, but it's…a secret," she finished lamely.

"Hey!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm the only one who answered all the questions…not fair!" He was actually scowling, Sakura noticed, and she couldn't help the tiny laugh that escaped her lips at the sight. That seemed to set Hinata off, and she began giggling as well, while Naruto's expression shifted into a full-blown pout—which only made Sakura laugh even harder.

When she managed to calm herself down again, she realized that Kakashi was staring at all of them, something in his face giving the impression that he was frowning. "I'm not impressed so far," he said, "but I have to give you a chance anyways, I suppose. Your final graduation exam will be tomorrow morning at five. Meet me at the training field near the river…oh, and don't eat any breakfast. Wouldn't want you throwing up during the middle of the test."

After delivering that rather disturbing bit of information, Kakashi unceremoniously disappeared in a puff of smoke as Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata all looked at each other in confusion. None of them spoke for a few moments, but eventually Naruto broke the silence—though he only said what they were all thinking.

"Another test?" he moaned. "I thought we graduated already! Why do we have to take another stupid test now?"

"Personally," Sakura said, feeling distinctly uneasy about the whole situation, "I'm a little more worried about the whole 'don't eat anything or you'll throw up' part at the end. I wonder what will happen to anyone who doesn't pass?"

She left unspoken the nasty suspicion that this 'test' might be nothing more than an excuse to fail her, since she had passed all of the regular exams. Hinata and Naruto must have picked up on her concern, though, even if they were unaware of its source. They looked at each other for a long moment, as if communicating through their eyes alone, then turned back to her.

"Doesn't matter," Naruto said, apparently speaking for both of them. "We're all going to pass together." The certainty in his voice was absolute, and Sakura found herself believing him despite her own inner doubts. Beside him, Hinata nodded, and that simple gesture was every bit as reassuring as Naruto's confident words.

"Yes," Sakura murmured, so quietly that she wasn't even sure they could hear her, "I suppose we are, aren't we?"

- - -

_Hm…nearly eleven. I suppose I should get going_, Kakashi thought lazily as he lay on his couch. The newest volume of his favorite serial was sitting on the table barely a few feet away, though, and that was far more appealing than the idea of giving a test to a bunch of freshly-graduated brats. They were just going to fail anyways, even if one of them was his own jounin-sensei's son. Perhaps they might have had a chance if the Hokage hadn't put the demon girl on his team, but surely the old man had to know he would never even consider passing a team with her on it, even if it also contained Arashi-sensei's child.

He had been surprised, though, by the easy way the three children interacted the previous afternoon. After observing them unnoticed for several minutes before entering the room, he had even found himself wondering if he might have been too hasty in automatically dismissing their chances. The way each of them had named their friends as their "like" had not escaped his attention either. Any incipient good will had vanished, however, when he heard the Haruno girl's evasiveness regarding her dream—no, her _goal_, he corrected himself. Had she somehow learned of the demon within her and was now planning to release it on the village?

"This is pointless," he muttered, standing up with a resigned sigh. No twelve year old could defeat the Fourth's seal; she probably just had a crush on some unlucky boy and was too embarrassed to mention it in front of her friends. Regardless, while she might not be a danger currently, she could easily become one in time. For that reason alone, he could not allow her to pass his test and receive further training, though it was unfortunate that he couldn't pass the other two separately.

Grabbing the tempting volume of Icha-Icha Paradise from the table, he set out to where he had told his temporary group of students to meet. Upon arriving at the training ground, though, he was surprised to see that the genin were not where he had expected them to be.

_Maybe I'm a little _too_ late this time?_ he wondered to himself. Still, patience—or simply endurance—was a necessary virtue for ninja, and if they had given up this quickly, they certainly didn't deserve the name. Suddenly, he felt much less guilty about failing them.

Then he noticed the three figures standing some distance away, by the monument to the village's fallen heroes. Their distinctive hair colors made them stand out, and for a moment he simply watched the three genin as they spoke quietly with each other. He felt a flash of anger when the pink-haired girl stretched out a tentative finger to trace one of the names carved into the stone, but then she said something to the other two, and he could hear the sadness in her voice even though he was too far away to make out her words. Ignoring the traitorous thought that perhaps she was more human than he had imagined, he used a quick shunshin to bring himself directly behind them just as the other girl laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"You're so late!" the blond boy, Naruto—_so much like Arashi-sensei_, he thought—yelled, not even bothering to face him. The two girls gave startled gasps and spun around, glaring accusingly at him, and he allowed himself a brief smile of amusement at their reactions.

"I asked my mother about you last night," Naruto continued, still with his back turned, "and she warned me all about your laziness and perverted habits. I bet you're late because you were reading that porno book, huh?"

With a tiny sigh, Kakashi slipped his book into a vest pocket. He had managed to forget that Kazama Yukie both was alive and knew—or had known, at least—him very well, and now she had apparently decided to pass on that knowledge to her son. Unfortunately, that meant that all of his best excuses probably wouldn't work on the boy either. _Oh well_, he thought, _it's not like I really have to explain myself to them_.

"I…overslept," he said, shrugging. Curiously, that seemed to satisfy all three of them, and they nodded, Naruto finally turning around to face him.

"So why do we have to take another test?" Naruto asked. "I thought we were done with all that once we graduated from the academy, and Mother wouldn't tell me anything." The two girls nodded, both looking curious as well.

"Those were tests of your skills, to see if you're capable of becoming ninja," Kakashi said, capturing their eyes with his own. Each of them stared up at him in rapt attention, just as so many other genin had before them. They were always attentive, but none of the genin assigned to him ever really understood what he was trying to say. Because of that, for their own good, it was better that he fail them now than have them learn as he had.

"This is a different test, to see if you _deserve_—" here he stared hard into the Haruno girl's jade-green—not crimson, as he had halfway expected—eyes, some part of him surprised to see that she met his gaze without flinching— "to be ninja of the Hidden Leaf. Most of you don't; this test has a two-thirds failure rate. Now, these are the conditions."

From one of his vest pockets, he removed two bells tied to pieces of twine and secured them to his belt. "Your goal is to take a bell from me, and if you have a bell at the end of the test, you pass. If not, you fail and have to return to the academy—and anyone without a bell will be tied up at the end while the rest of us eat lunch. Any questions?"

"Kakashi-sensei," the Hyuuga girl said, a puzzled look on her face, "there are only two bells, but there are three of us. Are two of us supposed to share a bell?"

Kakashi was thankful for his mask, as it hid his surprised expression. While he had expected someone to notice the number of bells did not match the number of genin, it had been quite some time since he had had someone ask if it was possible to share the bells between teammates. Somewhat against his better judgment, he decided they deserved an extra hint just for that.

"No," he replied, causing her face to fall. "One bell per person. Like I said, this test has a _sixty-six percent_ failure rate. You must be prepared to use lethal force against me if you expect to pass."

"But…Kakashi-sensei, wouldn't that be a thirty-three percent failure rate, with two bells and three of us?" the Haruno girl, quiet up until then, asked. Almost immediately, she seemed to shrink back in on herself as he focused his attention on her, her earlier courage apparently deserting her. He could all but see the wheels turning in her mind, though.

"I think that's enough questions," he said, cutting off Naruto as the boy opened his mouth. "The test will run until noon. Begin!"

The three genin continued to stare at him for a moment longer before running for the cover of the nearby underbrush—in separate directions, he noted with a slight sense of disappointment. Apparently, despite the marginal promise they had displayed earlier, they would end failing just as all of their predecessors had. At least he had managed to silence the nagging question in the back of his mind about whether he had perhaps misjudged the demon vessel.

For several minutes, none of the genin made any moves. Kakashi could tell from the movement in the underbrush that they were still nearby, though, and he shrugged and pulled out his book again. If they wanted to waste their time, that was up to them, even though he had to give them points for not being so foolish as to rush him out in the open. Eventually he would have to go after them—simply sitting and waiting was so boring—but for now he was curious as to how long it would be before one of them grew impatient.

Some time later, he caught a glimpse of pink hair through the bushes and smiled to himself. He wasn't surprised that she would be the first to attack, though he _was_ surprised when she failed to enter the clearing, instead choosing to throw kunai at him from the safety of the treeline. The first few projectiles missed him by a safe distance, but her aim rapidly improved with each one. By the fifth kunai, he was having to actively dodge them, and he muttered angrily when one nearly lodged itself in his book.

_Right, that's enough_, he decided. Lethal force against his person was one thing, but Icha-Icha Paradise was sacrosanct. As a precaution, he placed the book back inside his jacket, then set off for the area where the projectiles had been coming from. When he arrived there, though, he found nothing but disturbed dirt and leaves, along with two loose kunai on the ground. Just then, he noticed a flash of pink out of the corner of his eye and ducked, just in time to see yet another of the throwing knives blur over his head and bury itself into a nearby tree trunk.

_How many of those things does she have?_ Kakashi wondered, even as he began working his way around the trees towards the girl's position. From what he remembered, her profile stated that she was adequate with throwing weapons, but not spectacular, and he wondered what kind of standards the academy had now if this was what they considered merely adequate.

Granted, he could have ended the little game of cat and mouse at any time in any number of ways, but despite his dislike for the girl, he was determined to fail her fairly—and that meant no high-level techniques. That didn't mean he would _fight_ fairly, of course, and he chuckled to himself as he saw her crouched behind a bush, her back to him and completely unaware of his presence.

As he was attempting to decide the most humiliating way to demonstrate to her the stupidity of leaving her back unguarded, his danger sense screamed a warning, and he pivoted just in time to block a palm strike aimed at his right shoulder. A rapid flurry of blows pressed him back further, and by the time he could spare a glance in her direction, she had vanished.

He had more important things to pay attention to at the moment, though, as the Hyuuga girl continued her assault. The bulging veins around her eyes clearly indicated she was using her byakugan, and he was forced to admire her technique—and her ruthlessness—as he slipped around a particularly intricate combination that would have temporarily paralyzed his lungs if it had connected.

_If she were any faster_, he thought, _this might actually almost be interesting_. For a moment, he wondered if the two girls had planned this together, before deciding that if they had, he would no doubt be dodging kunai in addition to jyuuken strikes.

"So, you like to play with taijutsu, do you?" Kakashi called out to her, using kawarimi to seamlessly replace himself with a pile of leaves and teleport up to a low-hanging branch as she grazed what would have been three of the tenketsu in his left leg with pinpoint blows. "What do you do when your opponent is too far away for that to work, though?"

To her credit, the girl didn't just stand still and wait for his inevitable attack. As she leapt to one side, her enhanced vision easily tracked him through the tree's leaves—but according to her profile, she was relatively poor at ninjutsu, and he was counting on her hesitation as she tried to come up with a way of attacking him at range.

"Too late!" he exclaimed cheerfully, even as she finally seemed to settle on an idea and began forming hand seals. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" His hands flickered through the seals, and a number of tiny spheres of flame shot towards her. He was near the edge of the technique's effective range, so he was unworried about actually hurting her, but it had its desired effect as she crouched down and covered her face with her arms to protect herself from the miniature fireballs.

For a moment, he considered whether the fire technique had been a bit too advanced to use in good conscience against a fresh genin, but then decided that she hadn't exactly been fighting on a genin's level either. As he prepared to jump down and subdue her while she was still distracted, though, he caught a glimpse of blond hair off to his left. Judging by the way the leaves were shaking, it was coming towards him rather quickly, too.

_And that would be number three_, Kakashi thought, beginning to wonder if he had been mistaken about their lack of teamwork. The interruptions seemed to be a little too convenient for random chance, one genin attacking just as he was about to finish off another. This suspicion was confirmed a moment later, to his rapidly growing interest.

"Oi! Fight me, not Hinata!" yelled the blond boy as he burst through the trees and into plain sight. A quick flick of his hand embedded several shuriken into the ground between Kakashi and the Hyuuga, a clear warning not to go any closer to her. Kakashi decided to indulge him, especially as the girl still hadn't moved; he could tell she was more or less uninjured, but it was possible the fireballs' detonations had temporarily stunned her.

"How can I fight you if you're running away from me?" he called out loudly as Naruto led him on a chase through the trees. Something about this was beginning to seem very suspicious to Kakashi, and he allowed his eyes to trail down to the holsters strapped to the boy's legs. The one on his right leg was clearly intended to hold kunai, but even though he had used only shuriken to defend his teammate, it was completely empty. Remembering the Haruno girl's unexpectedly impressive throwing skills, which now seemed more in line with what _Naruto's_ profile had mentioned, he found himself distracted for a key instant as he burst out of the trees just behind the blond genin.

"Now, Sakura!" Kakashi heard Naruto yell, and he spun around to see the pink-haired girl stand up from where she had been hiding in a bush, dropping something—a stick?—onto the ground. With one smooth motion, she drew a kunai across her palm and formed a quick series of seals before pressing her hand to the ground.

"Fuuinjutsu: Tenchi Saifuu!" she pronounced clearly, and Kakashi felt the world twist and shatter as a cold, blue-white light flared up in a ring around him, illuminating an intricate pattern of lines and characters scratched into the dry earth.

_Who?_ he wanted to scream, but his voice would not respond. _Who could possibly have been _insane_ enough to teach the Nine-Tails' vessel sealing techniques?_

He recognized the seal, of course; how could he not, given who his jounin-sensei had been? _'The Dividing Heaven and Earth Seal operates by warping the chakra coils of anyone within its radius,'_ he quoted to himself from memories of lectures long past, _'temporarily causing disorientation and loss of voluntary muscle control proportionate to the amount of chakra used to activate the seal.'_

Indeed, he felt his legs waver and almost give way underneath him, and he only remained upright by the barest of margins. Despite his growing horror, he felt a twinge of grudging admiration for the demon girl, as she had obviously put quite a lot of chakra into the seal if it was affecting him this strongly. While he could break free of the effect fairly easily—his chakra coils were simply too strong and well-developed to be affected for any real length of time by anything a genin was capable of doing—Kakashi decided to allow this to play out to the end.

Then, as he had half-suspected would happen, the other two struck. Naruto and the Hyuuga girl, whose clothes were scorched in several places but otherwise appeared little the worse for wear, swooped in and neatly cut the bells from their cords, just as the seal's light faded.

Curiously, though, their expressions were less triumphant than resigned as they stood a safe distance away and clutched their prizes. After their astonishing display of teamwork, not to mention how well they had played him, he would have expected them to be jumping up and down in excitement. Even given the disturbing revelation regarding the Haruno girl's abilities, ones her profile had failed to mention and ones she most definitely should _not_ have possessed, not given who she was, he was sorely tempted to pass them. They had performed brilliantly by any standards, even allowing for his own underestimation of them as well as a substantial amount of luck.

"Well?" Naruto demanded, his tone flat. "We got your bells, so are we done? I—Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed, his expression changing in an instant to one of sheer panic. Kakashi turned, his legs thankfully back under his full control, just in time to see the pink-haired girl fall heavily to the ground.

_Too much chakra usage_, he thought, analyzing the situation dispassionately. The girl's profile had mentioned her low chakra reserves several times, even while it praised her control, and he guessed she had blown all of her chakra on that one technique. It was a dangerous gamble, and he wondered if she had known what would happen. Her teammates' unhappy expressions at the moment of their success suddenly replayed in his mind, and then he realized something that shattered his world for the second time in as many minutes, if only metaphorically.

They hadn't figured it out. He had thought they had realized that teams had to pass or fail together, and that the point of the exercise was to see if they could overcome their individual competitiveness in order to work together—but they hadn't. The Haruno girl had willingly forfeited her chance at one of the bells in order to ensure that her teammates would pass, for he was certain that anyone skilled enough to mark out a seal as intricate as the Tenchi Saifuu in just a few minutes would also be quite aware of the effect of exhausting one's entire chakra reserves.

_That isn't the act of a demon_, Kakashi thought, as a wave of shame washed over him. _Demons don't sacrifice themselves for anyone._ And her chakra, visible as it charged the seal…that had been purely human, with none of the hellish red taint that had clung to the Nine-Tails like a smoldering blanket. Her knowledge of fuuinjutsu still disturbed him on a visceral level, but as he looked at her crumpled form, he realized he really only had one choice.

Taking advantage of the two conscious genins' moment of paralyzing concern for their friend, he swiftly moved behind the pink-haired girl and, pulling her to her feet and supporting her with an arm across her stomach, pressed the sharp point of a kunai to the hollow of her throat. As he watched, pure rage blossomed across Naruto's face at the action, while beside him the Hyuuga girl had gone dangerously still.

"You've accomplished the mission objective," he told them, hoping they would manage to restrain themselves long enough for him to finish, "but your teammate had to sacrifice herself in order for you to do so. Now she's been captured by your enemy, but she's still alive, and you can get her back if you return what you took. Otherwise…"

He trailed off, his meaning clear. "You have one minute to decide."

As he watched the two of them, whispering urgently to each other in low tones, he wondered which mistake they would make, his own or his father's. There was no right choice, but there was only one he was willing to accept. The situation was unfair, and it was beyond anything a group of genin fresh out of the academy should have to deal with—but the image of Obito crushed beneath a boulder was too deeply engraved in his memory for him to allow them any kindness here.

Their whispers grew to heated near-shouts, loud enough for him to make out a few words, and he wondered if they had become so absorbed in the scenario he presented that they had forgotten no lives or missions were truly at stake. Then the Hyuuga girl said something about a promise they had both made, to which Naruto's mouth compressed into a thin line in response, and he shook his head.

"Well, she can yell at me for breaking it all she wants, later," Kakashi heard him say, his tone unflinching. The girl hesitated, then nodded. Her reply was too faint to make out, but whatever it was, it seemed to relax her blond companion.

To Kakashi's surprise, it was the Hyuuga who came forward, holding both of the bells clenched in her white-knuckled fist. "Give her back," she said quietly, and while Naruto's rage might have been absent from her face, it flickered hotly in the depths of her pale eyes.

Slipping his kunai back into its pouch, Kakashi set the pink-haired girl down on the ground with a gentleness that surprised himself. He shook his head to refuse the proffered bells, then waved Naruto over to join them.

"By making a deal with your enemy and intentionally failing to complete your mission, you broke one of the most fundamental rules a ninja should live by," he said, not surprised to find that it took conscious effort to keep his voice steady as he met their confused, angry gazes. "Ninja who break the rules are trash. But ninja who abandon their comrades are lower than trash. Congratulations. You—all of you—pass…her for her sacrifice, and you for yours. We'll meet here tomorrow at nine to begin your training."

With one last glance back at the memorial stone, he quietly walked away from the three genin. That morning had given Hatake Kakashi many things to think about.

- - -

Author's Notes: Thank you all very much for the reviews of last chapter; as always, they're very much appreciated, both the positive and the negative. This is definitely the longest chapter I've done so far, and quite probably the longest that will appear in this story. Hopefully the length didn't put any of you off, but there really wasn't a good way to break it up. As you can see, the teams aren't all that much different from canon; when planning out this story, I had two initial guidelines for forming the teams--keep Ino/Shika/Cho together, and put Sasuke on a team other than Kakashi's--and everything else proceeded in a more or less logical fashion. If anyone is interested in a full explanation, please mention it in your review and I'd be happy to send you a message with more details.

I really hope Kakashi's character came across well. He's one of the more complex characters in canon, in my opinion, and I'm a little concerned I'm not doing him justice here. It doesn't make sense to me, though, that he would be immediately accepting of the vessel for the demon that killed his own sensei--but he's also shown that he is quite capable of changing even deeply-held opinions when presented with sufficient reasons to the contrary, which is one of the biggest things I was trying to portray. In any event, thank you for reading this, and I hope you enjoyed it!


	8. Seven: Misunderstandings

"…and then he just said we all passed and walked off. He didn't even wait to see if Sakura-chan was going to be okay!"

While the indignation in Naruto's voice was rather flattering, Sakura supposed, the volume at which he was speaking was seriously aggravating her headache. Not for the first time, she wondered why she had agreed to come to dinner with her friends when all she really wanted to do was lie on her soft bed in her cool, dark room far away from loud noises and bright lights. She had read about the effects of chakra exhaustion on the body, but the dry, clinical textbook descriptions only reflected reality in the most superficial of ways.

_But we passed!_ some part of her mind exulted. _All three of us, and now I'm a real ninja and we're going to be training and doing missions together!_ The happiness she gained from that thought was almost enough to overshadow the bone-deep aching in her body, and she managed a brief smile.

"Didn't I tell you two not to give up your chances at passing for me?" she asked, glaring mock-seriously at Naruto and Hinata. "I even made you promise, if I remember right."

Naruto stubbornly stuck out his jaw. "No, you made us promise we wouldn't give you one of the bells when we got them, and we didn't," he said. "So you can't yell at us, because we gave them to Kakashi-sensei, not you."

"It was scary," Hinata admitted, flushing a little. "It was hard to tell, with his mask and everything, but I thought he might actually hurt you. That thing you did with the circle on the ground and the blue light—the seal—really made him mad, I think."

"Or afraid," Sakura murmured, so quietly she was sure the others couldn't have heard her. The idea that one of the most powerful jounin in the village was afraid of her was not a pleasant one. He _had_ passed their team in the end, though, so whatever he thought couldn't have been that bad—unless he had only done so in order to be able to keep an eye on her. She thought that rather unlikely, based on Naruto's retelling of what had happened while she had been unconscious, but it was still possible.

Ino leaned forward across the table. "Hey, yeah!" she said. "I know we didn't learn anything like that at the academy. Have you been training without us, Sakura-chan?" Beside her, Chouji and Shikamaru looked up from their meals, all three turning identical curious looks on Sakura, while Naruto and Hinata still appeared interested even though they had already heard her explanation once.

_Great_, Sakura barely managed to keep from groaning aloud. _Sarutobi-shishou is going to kill me_. Given who her teammates were, it had been an easy decision to share the details of her lessons with them, but apparently she had failed to emphasize enough that they needed to keep it a secret. She wasn't worried about what her friends might think, but their parents' probable reactions—even Ino's, who had come to genuinely like her over the past several years—were a completely different matter.

"I'm sorry," she said, her heart sinking as she saw their disappointed looks. "My teacher made me promise I would only say anything to my teammates. I really do want to tell you, but I can't. Please…don't get mad at me?"

Much to her surprise, the three of them nodded. "I guess it's like the lessons my dad has been giving me, huh?" Ino said. "I'm not really supposed to talk about those either, since they're our family techniques. But can you at least tell us who your teacher is? Since…well…"

The blonde girl trailed off, blushing scarlet in embarrassment as Chouji glared at her, and even Shikamaru managed to look mildly reproving. While Sakura appreciated her friends' sensitivity towards the subject of her family, she couldn't help but be somewhat amused at the way they interacted. They would be a good team, she had a feeling, if they didn't end up killing each other first.

"It's okay," she said, smiling tiredly. "My guardian has been teaching me, since I don't really…have anyone else." The familiar pang of sadness came, strengthened by the memory of seeing her father's name on the memorial stone that morning, but it quickly faded as she looked around her at the faces of her friends.

"So, what did you have to do for your test?" she asked, hoping to dispel the pensive mood that seemed to have settled over the table.

Ino's face brightened, and she and Chouji snickered. "Oh, nothing much," she said airily. "There's an old shack a little ways outside the village walls, and Asuma-sensei gave us three hours to find it and get the katana he hid in it. He 'forgot' to mention it was trapped, though, so—mmph!"

"That," Shikamaru pronounced, retrieving his chopsticks from where he had stuffed a large clump of noodles into Ino's mouth, "was a _very_ troublesome shack. I think the details are unnecessary, as we did pass the test. Eventually."

Wide-eyed and trying desperately not to laugh, Sakura nodded along with her teammates. She would have to make certain to get the whole story out of Ino later on, when Shikamaru wasn't around to interrupt. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Naruto had a mischievous grin on his face, and she wondered what he was up to.

"Does that mean you're not upset about not being on the same team as a certain other genin, Ino-chan?" he asked, his grin widening even further. "Say, one with black hair, black eyes, and the silliest red and white…Ino-chan? Are you okay?"

Ino was coughing violently, apparently choking on her noodles, but she waved Shikamaru and Chouji back as they tried to help her. "I'm fine," she managed to get out around huge gulps of her drink. "Too spicy…need more water!"

_Yeah, right,_ Sakura thought, giggling to herself. _Good diversion._ It really wasn't very nice of Naruto to make fun of Ino's crush on a certain Uchiha heir, she supposed, even if it was funny. A glance over at Hinata showed that she too appeared torn between scolding Naruto or bursting out laughing along with him, though eventually the former impulse won out.

"Be nice," she admonished, leaning over to smack him lightly on the back of his head, though the barely-suppressed laughter evident in her voice somewhat ruined the effect. "It isn't Ino-chan's fault that she likes him. And…well, he is awfully cute, you have to admit."

Naruto stared at Hinata as though she had grown another head. "Not you too!" he moaned, burying his head in his hands. "My best friend is going to join the Sasuke fan club."

Hinata rolled her eyes and smacked him again, harder this time. "All I said was that I think he's cute," she muttered. "I also think he's a jerk, you know. He's been bugging me to spar with him ever since the taijutsu exam last week, just because I placed first in the class and he didn't."

"Hey! Sasuke-kun isn't a jerk," Ino said, blushing a little when she noticed everyone staring at her. "He's just really competitive and…um…driven. Besides, why don't you want to spar with him? Wouldn't it be good practice?"

"At four in the morning? Even my father isn't that obsessed with training," Hinata replied as she shook her head, prompting laughter from Naruto and Chouji. Sakura shared a bored look with Shikamaru while the two girls continued to argue good-naturedly, wishing they would move on to a different topic.

"So what do you think?" Ino asked. Sakura blinked and looked at her curiously, having lost track of the conversation while engaging in an impromptu staring contest with Shikamaru. Given that she had seen him fall asleep with his eyes open on more than one occasion, she was grateful for the interruption, as she rather doubted she could have won.

"Think?" she echoed. "About what?"

Ino looked somewhat affronted, almost causing Sakura to feel guilty about not paying better attention. "About Sasuke-kun, of course," she said, sounding as though she couldn't imagine any better topic of conversation.

_Of course_, Sakura thought, giving Naruto the evil eye. He had just _had_ to bring up Sasuke around Ino, and now somehow she had gotten sucked into the conversation too. _I'm way too tired for this_.

"Ino-chan," she sighed, some corner of her mind warning that in her present state she was probably coming across more harshly than she meant to, "you know what I think about Sasuke. You asked me the same question months ago, and I told you I want to be a ninja, not a brood mare for the new generation of Uchiha. The idea of spending nine months out of every year pregnant for the rest of my life doesn't exactly appeal to me, and that's exactly what will happen to whatever girl he ends up marrying."

Everyone around the table was silent for a long moment, and then Ino said in a tiny voice, "I just meant whether you think he's cute or not, or if you think his attitude is cool." She glanced down at her plate and nibbled at her lower lip, something Sakura knew she did only when she was feeling particularly embarrassed. "I know you're not interested in him like _that_, and I'm not either, really…but it's fun to pretend sometimes, isn't it?"

Now Sakura really did feel guilty. Yes, she was tired and sore and still starving despite the large meal she had just eaten, but none of that was Ino's fault; neither was it her fault that Sakura felt rather bitter about the entire subject of relationships, given her status as village pariah. She shouldn't have been so blunt, especially when her friend had only been trying to draw her into the conversation.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, keeping her eyes downcast. "I just…today really wore me out, and I think I should go home and go to bed now. I didn't mean to hurt you, Ino-chan." Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out some money and set it on the table to pay for her dinner.

"I'll see you tomorrow for training," she said quietly to Naruto and Hinata as she stood up to leave, chancing a brief smile over at Ino, who smiled weakly back. "I did have fun tonight…" Not waiting for her friends' reactions, she hurried out of the restaurant, determined to get back to her apartment before she put her foot any further in her mouth.

- - -

"You're late!" Naruto yelled out from beside Hinata.

Startled, she almost fell over the side of the bridge and into the river, but fortunately, Sakura grabbed her arm. The two girls turned around to see Kakashi standing nonchalantly behind them, one arm raised in a lazy wave and the other holding the same orange book he had been reading the previous day as well. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Naruto sigh and turn around as well after tossing one final pebble into the river.

"How do you do that?" she quietly asked him. "I couldn't sense anything, and it's too draining to use my byakugan for very long."

"Training with Mother," her blond friend replied, shuddering theatrically, and she simply nodded in response. She had known Naruto's mother for long enough that she had a feeling she didn't really want to hear the details of whatever training method the woman had come up with for her son this time.

Kakashi coughed, and the two genin immediately focused their attention on him. "Now that we're all here," he said, ignoring Naruto's glare, "let's talk about your training." Hinata thought she saw his eyes linger on Sakura for a moment as he said that, but she couldn't be sure, and she supposed it made sense given how surprised he had seemed yesterday.

"First of all," he continued, "I want to know whose idea that ambush yesterday was." He sounded completely unperturbed by the idea of having to teach them, a rather sharp contrast to his words the previous day as well as what Naruto had said about how he had supposedly never passed a team before theirs.

Hinata was just relieved that he didn't seem angry at Sakura any more, assuming he ever really had been in the first place. Her father had taught her how to read people's faces, but Kakashi's mask made it nearly impossible for her to tell what he was thinking based on his expressions.

"Well, the idea to distract you and then trap you in a seal was Sakura-chan's, of course," Naruto said, grinning as he glanced in Sakura's direction. She immediately began to blush a startling shade of red, and Hinata felt a mingled sense of amusement and sympathy for her friend. It hadn't taken long for Naruto—and by extension the rest of their group of friends—to find out that the quickest way to cause Sakura to become flustered was to imply that she had done something worthy of praise, a reaction with which Hinata could readily identify.

Taking pity on her pink-haired and scarlet-faced friend, Hinata added, "But Naruto-kun was the one who came up with a plan to keep you away from the clearing long enough for Sakura-chan to inscribe the seal."

"Ah, the seal," Kakashi interjected, just as Sakura opened her mouth to say something. "Naruto and Hinata, did the two of you know what activating it would do to your teammate?"

Hinata was about to answer when Sakura said, "I didn't tell them, Kakashi-sensei. I just made them promise that they would each take and keep a bell when I gave them the chance." She had her eyes fixed on a patch of grass in front of her, and Hinata could tell she was uncomfortable with the attention Kakashi was paying her.

Kakashi nodded, as if she had confirmed something for him, then turned to Naruto and asked, "So you gambled your future as a ninja on a technique you knew nothing about?" His tone was uninterested, almost apathetic, but the words couldn't have been more calculated to upset Naruto if he had tried.

"Of course!" the blond boy exclaimed. "I trust Sakura-chan. I know she wouldn't let us down…right, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata gave a reassuring smile to Sakura, whose face had begun to resemble a tomato more than anything else. "Right," she said firmly.

"Good. Teammates need to be able to trust each other." It did not escape Hinata's notice that Kakashi had only questioned her and Naruto about whether or not they trusted Sakura, and not the other way around. He seemed pleased with their responses, though, or at least that was the impression she got despite his even tone of voice.

"Now, your performance yesterday wasn't bad for fresh genin, but all three of you need a lot of practice before we can do any missions," he said, and Hinata wondered whether she might be getting better at reading his half-hidden facial expressions, because he was definitely smirking at them now. Beside her, Naruto groaned, looking disappointed, while Sakura had finally managed to get her face back to its normal color and was now paying close attention to Kakashi.

"What should we practice?" she asked. "Hinata is really good at taijutsu, and Naruto is really good at ninjutsu, and I'm…not really good at anything, but I guess I'm better at ninjutsu than taijutsu."

Hinata frowned. She hated it when Sakura started acting like this, likely because it reminded her too much of her own behavior at times, but at the same time she understood what it was like to never feel quite good enough to satisfy anyone—and Sakura had had to deal with it all her life, while Hinata had at least had Naruto to confide in while growing up. Without him, she had a feeling she would have ended up even worse than Sakura. She was trying to think of something to say to her friend when, to her surprise, Kakashi spoke first.

"Yes, because every genin fresh from the academy can perform C-rank sealing techniques in minutes with nothing more than a stick and a kunai," he said dryly, sounding almost disappointed in her. "Acknowledge your strengths and weaknesses equally, or you'll get in trouble some day when you ignore one or the other."

As reprimands went, it wasn't very harsh, at least not compared to what Hinata was used to. She wasn't surprised, though, that Sakura seemed to take it hard, ducking her head and murmuring an abashed apology.

"But…Kakashi-sensei," she added a moment later, still not looking up, "I can't practice fuuinjutsu here. The Hokage told me not to—and I'm really _not_ very good with taijutsu or ninjutsu, so I don't know what to do. I think I might be better with genjutsu, but we didn't learn any of those techniques at the academy. Could you teach us that?"

Kakashi looked at her for a few moments, then shrugged. "Maybe later," he said. "For today, I want to see how each of you compares to the others in taijutsu. All ninja should have a good grounding in unarmed combat, even if they never become masters of the art. Naruto and Sakura will spar first, then Hinata and Sakura, and finally Naruto and Hinata."

Turning to Hinata, he added, "I don't want you to use the full jyuuken unless you've learned how to reopen closed tenketsu, but anything else is fine." Hinata nodded; her father had started teaching her the basics of opening tenketsu, but she wasn't confident enough in her abilities yet to try doing so on her friends.

Much to her amazement, as soon as Kakashi motioned for Sakura and Naruto to begin, he pulled out his book and began reading. Even though Hinata could see that he was paying attention to the two of them, it still seemed rather irresponsible—especially if the book really was as perverted as Naruto said, which, judging by the blush visible above the upper edge of his mask, seemed likely. She found it difficult to reconcile the man standing near her with the legendary Copy-Ninja her father had told her about upon finding out he would be teaching her.

Still pondering that contradiction, she barely even noticed when Sakura and Naruto's match ended, and she defeated first Sakura, then Naruto almost automatically. It wasn't arrogance to recognize that neither of them was a match for her in this discipline, just as she knew she would never possess Naruto's nearly inexhaustible chakra reserves or Sakura's flawless control. Not for the first time since the genin teams had been announced, she thought how lucky she was to have them as her teammates, regardless of what her father had said when he found out.

_Though it wasn't like he was upset about Naruto_, she thought. If anything, he had been pleased to hear that his daughter's closest friend would be on her team, but his reaction to learning that Sakura would be as well had been totally different. There was nothing he could do, though; not even the Hyuuga clan head could overturn a decision made by the Hokage, and Hinata had made her own feelings on the matter clear years ago when she defied him by remaining Sakura's friend. That had been the first time she had ever gone against his wishes on a matter of any significance, and to this day she was unsure whether he had been more enraged by her disobedience or pleased—albeit grudgingly—by her determination and refusal to back down.

Just then, she realized the subject of her thoughts was looking at her curiously and poking her shoulder, and she blinked. Looking around, she saw that Kakashi and Naruto had apparently left, and now the two girls were by themselves. "Sorry, Sakura-chan," she said, "I wasn't really paying attention. Um…where did Naruto and Kakashi-sensei go?"

Sakura giggled. "And you made fun of me the other day for 'spacing out'?" she asked, pretending indignation. "I think we're done for the day, since Kakashi-sensei didn't say to come back after lunch. Naruto was complaining about being hungry, so he left too. We can probably catch up to him, though, since you know he's going to go to Ichiraku to eat."

"But we've only been here for a little more than an hour," Hinata protested. "Or, well, our teacher was only here for a little more than an hour, I guess. You'd think he could show up at the time he himself told us."

"Maybe tomorrow?" Sakura didn't sound too hopeful, though. "He said to be here at nine, but I bet he'll be late again."

"Probably," Hinata said, then blushed as she heard her stomach growl. "Do you want to go see if we can find Naruto and drag him somewhere other than a ramen stall? I don't really feel like having noodles right now."

Sakura nodded. "Sure, but you get to tell him that," she said, the corners of her mouth twitching as she fought back a grin—probably at the thought of anyone trying to get between Naruto and ramen, Hinata suspected.

"I'm doomed," she sighed, and the two girls laughed before leaving the training field and setting out to find their friend.

- - -

Sakura breathed in deeply, resisting the urge to close her eyes in concentration. Envisioning the pattern she was practicing, she formed a long series of hand seals and, as she exhaled, pronounced, "Fuuton: Fuuinkoku no Jutsu."

A small breeze swirled around her, stirring up dust from the ground. When it died down, she groaned in frustration as she saw the results of the technique: yet another horribly deformed, half-complete sealing diagram that appeared to have been scratched into the dirt by a drunkard. As such, it perfectly complemented the six others nearby, testaments to her failure to master the Wind Engraving technique that would potentially allow her to use her fuuinjutsu abilities in a straight fight rather than a prepared ambush.

"I don't understand," she sighed, turning to her teacher. "I'm doing the hand seals right, and I'm not even close to running out of chakra. It just…won't work right, even when I know exactly what design I'm trying to create."

The Hokage frowned thoughtfully. "Part of your problem, I believe, is that this technique does require a fair amount of chakra to perform," he said. "Increasing the amount of chakra you channel into the technique will help to some extent, but your greatest problem is one of precision. Do you know why I have forced you to practice visualization so much?"

"To help build my chakra reserves?" Sakura asked, not entirely certain what that had to do with her current problem. The exercises had definitely accomplished their purpose, at least to an extent; while her reserves were significantly lower than those of her classmates, before graduation Iruka-sensei had told her he was impressed with how much she had developed from the time she entered the academy.

"In part, yes," the Hokage replied, settling into a meditative posture on the ground and motioning for Sakura to join him. "However, there are other ways of accomplishing that goal. The true value of those exercises is in teaching _control_. Make no mistake—the technique you are learning now, while simplistic at its core, has the potential to stress your chakra control beyond nearly any other.

"Forming a single line, or even a basic shape like a square or circle, is trivial, is it not?" The question was obviously rhetorical, as Sakura had been able to do that for weeks now, and he continued, "Now put a number of those shapes together. You cannot simply create them one at a time, as the chakra required to sustain the technique that long would be excessive by anyone's standards, and if they overlapped then the creation of one could mar another."

Sakura nodded, though she had already heard this before, and she didn't see what it had to do with visualization exercises. Her problem was that no matter how clearly she pictured the image she was trying to create, her chakra refused to follow the pattern properly. It was a new feeling, not having enough control to perform a technique, and it wasn't one she liked. She had grown accustomed to her lower strength, though it still bothered her at times, but she had always thought that at least she could feel proud of her chakra control—because if she couldn't, then what did she really have to offer as a ninja? This technique had ruined that belief, though, and irrationally she wanted to blame her teacher for showing it to her.

"Sakura-chan," the Hokage said, much more gently than his normal 'teaching' tone, as though he could see how frustrated and upset she was becoming, "I am sure I explained that this is an exceptionally difficult technique to master. Creating a single shape with it is simple enough that it would not even be considered an E-rank technique, but with the types of patterns you have been attempting to form, it is easily lower A-rank in terms of the control required, if not the strength.

"More than that, it requires an entirely new way of controlling your chakra, which is what the visualization techniques are intended to help you with. You must directly affect the chakra flows themselves, forming them into the design you visualize in your mind rather than controlling them through the medium of the hand seals. The seals govern the creation of the winds that perform the actual engraving, but the patterns to be engraved are far too complex to be reduced to any reasonable number of hand seals."

_I…think I see_, Sakura thought, her frustration fading as she considered the new problem. Up until now, she had been trying to translate the images in her mind into hand seals, but apparently that was the wrong way to approach things. She had a vague idea of what the Hokage meant by directly affecting the chakra flows—it was somewhat similar to how the Henge technique required the user to picture his or her intended form, or how she mentally reinforced and expanded her chakra coils through meditation—but surely it couldn't be as easy as simply visualizing what the chakra should look like. If it were, nobody would need hand seals at all for any techniques.

"Apparently, I have given you quite a lot to consider," the Hokage said, smiling slightly. "I would have explained this earlier, as it was not my intention to cause you any undue difficulty, but I thought you understood it already. Do you see now how the visualization exercises are important?"

"Yes, Sarutobi-shishou," Sakura replied, not without a certain sense of disgruntlement at how much time she had apparently wasted on totally useless efforts to learn the technique. It was nice to know, though, that the rather annoying and mentally draining meditations she had been doing for the past several years would finally serve a purpose other than somewhat expanding her chakra reserves.

She could almost see how the theory behind them could be applied to manipulating chakra flows outside the body as well, but, not for the first time, she found herself wishing she had some ability like Hinata's byakugan or the Uchiha sharingan. Without being able to see the chakra flows, what the Hokage seemed to expect her to be able to do would be like copying a picture from memory while blindfolded. The moment of jealousy passed quickly, though, when she thought about everything her friend had to go through because of her Hyuuga heritage.

The Hokage smiled at her and stood up slowly, shaking dust and a few leaves from his robes. "Then I shall leave you to your meditation. Remember, you are not a Hyuuga or an Uchiha," he said, and for a moment Sakura wondered if he really could read her mind. "The key is not to concern yourself too much with the precise details of what the chakra itself is doing, but simply to focus on what you _wish_ it to do; as long as the pattern is clear enough and your will strong enough, it will follow the paths you lay out for it."

With that confusing piece of advice, he turned and walked away, leaving Sakura both annoyed at her teacher's vagueness and excited at the possibility of learning something new. Even the difficulty of the problem had begun to appeal to her, though, and so she obediently closed her eyes and sank into a meditative trance with practiced ease. She would have to cut short her exercises today in order to be well rested for the mission Kakashi-sensei had promised to take their team on tomorrow, but she was determined to make as much progress as she could before then.

- - -

The day had turned out to be especially hot, and Sakura could feel the sweat plastering her bangs to her forehead and trickling down her body. Even more annoyingly, she could hear Naruto grumbling, despite the fact that he was nearly halfway across the yard from her—too far to make out individual words, but his tone came across quite clearly. It was hard to blame him, though; if she had known that their team's first mission would be something like this, she wasn't sure she would have bothered getting out of bed that morning.

Then again, she wasn't sure what she had expected. After less than a week of training, it wasn't like they would be assigned anything important or remotely dangerous. Still, weeding a garden seemed rather pointless, as it didn't require a ninja's skills in any way, and she was sure there were any number of schoolchildren who would have happily done the work in exchange for a bit of money to buy sweets or toys.

_At least Hinata's happy_, Sakura thought, looking over to where her friend was humming as she uprooted weeds, a peaceful expression on her face. Gardening was one of the few leisure activities Hinata's father permitted her, and she and Ino could go on about various types of plants and flowers for what seemed like forever. Truthfully, Sakura found it all a bit boring, but she couldn't deny that their knowledge had come in handy during the flower arrangement and natural poisons classes at the academy.

Suddenly, she heard Naruto yell, "I'm done!" and realized with a start that she had nearly managed to finish her section as well while she had been thinking. Quickly yanking out the weeds growing next to the last few plants, she stood up and stretched, wincing as the motion stressed sore muscles in her back. Hinata, who had taken more care with her plants than either of her teammates, finished a few minutes later, and the three of them walked over to where Kakashi was sitting and reading the strange, small book with the orange cover that he seemingly carried everywhere with him—and drinking a tall glass of chilled tea, which Sakura eyed covetously.

"We're finished with the garden, Kakashi-sensei," Hinata said, and Sakura would have sworn she actually sounded disappointed. "Is there anything else we need to do now?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Nope, you're done for the day. Don't forget to meet at the Hokage's tower tomorrow morning at nine for another mission." With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind three very irritated genin.

"That's it?" Naruto shouted, though Sakura was sure their jounin-sensei was nowhere within earshot. "We get there at nine, wait around for two hours until lazy Kakashi-sensei finally shows up, get this stupid mission that we finish in an hour and a half, and now we're _done_? What happened to training, or maybe a mission that a five-year-old couldn't do? I thought Mother was joking when she said this was what D-rank missions are like."

Sakura sighed, unable to disagree with any of her friend's complaints. She was starting to suspect that, if anything, they might have learned more by being held back at the academy another year. Thus far, their training had consisted of perhaps two or three hours a day of sparring or practicing the few ninjutsu they knew with each other while Kakashi stood around and read his book, occasionally making insulting yet oddly helpful comments, and now it seemed they wouldn't be receiving even that dubious level of instruction today.

"We should see if we can do something else," Hinata said, echoing her thoughts. "This was fun…well, at least for me, but I don't really think it's helping us become better ninja."

"At least we'll get paid," Sakura muttered, looking down so her friends wouldn't see the tiny flush of embarrassment spreading across her cheeks. Neither of them had to worry about money, but the payment for even a low D-rank mission like this one would help supplement the meager monthly stipend she received from the war orphans' fund. She would need new clothes soon—though, to her annoyance, more because she was growing taller than because her figure was beginning to fill out at all—and while she could probably alter the outfits she had, she really would like to be able to buy some completely new ones.

Naruto seemed to instantly cheer up. "That's right!" he said. "I bet I can buy lots of ramen and explosive tags and tripwires and maybe a new matte finish coating kit for my kunai and—"

"We get the point," Hinata sighed, clapping one hand over Naruto's mouth to shut him up. "But what are we going to do about training, if Kakashi-sensei isn't going to teach us anything? I can't…I need to be practicing more than just the jyuuken, since that's the only thing Father teaches me now."

Naruto scrunched up his face in thought. "Well…maybe he's still trying to figure out what to teach each of us?" he wondered aloud. "He does watch us an awful lot while we train with each other, even if it just looks like he's reading that perverted book most of the time."

"Maybe," Sakura said, though privately she couldn't help the sinking feeling that their chronically late jounin-sensei was avoiding teaching them because of her. "I guess we could give him another week or so; if we don't start doing anything useful by then, we can try talking to Iruka-sensei, or maybe even the Hokage. We are the first team he's ever passed, after all, so he might just not be used to teaching yet."

Neither Naruto nor Hinata appeared pleased with her suggestion, but they reluctantly nodded. With any luck, Kakashi would start teaching them soon. If not, Sakura figured they were in for a long week of pulling weeds, and she hoped for her back's sake that that wouldn't be the case.

- - -

Author's Notes: Thank you all for the reviews last chapter! I'm glad you enjoyed my take on the bell test, and I'm thrilled that Kakashi came across pretty much exactly as I had intended (more from his perspective next chapter, by the way). Also, thanks to everyone who has added this to their favorites/author alerts/C2s; while I love reading all of your reviews, it also makes me happy just to know that people like the story. To answer one question I've seen several times--namely, pairings--there's a reason why this story is categorized under General and not Romance. That doesn't mean that the subject will be completely ignored, but it won't be taking up any significant amount of screen time. My apologies to those of you who were hoping for more, but that just isn't the focus of this story.

As you may or may not have noticed, I've deliberately stretched out the timeline a bit in this chapter compared to canon. Yes, that means, among other things, that our intrepid band of heroes will not be going to Wave Country; while I imagine I could have made it an interesting trip, I have...other plans for them. And, on that note, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.


	9. Eight: Endings and Beginnings

_Well, here goes nothing,_ Sakura thought to herself as she walked into the shop, a bell tinkling somewhere to announce her arrival. As she had hoped, Ino was the only one minding the register at the moment, and as it was only a few minutes before closing time, no other customers were inside either. She smiled as she breathed in the heady scent of dozens of different types of flowers mingled together, but that faded quickly as she remembered why she was here.

"Just a second, please," Ino called out from behind the counter, not looking up from the potted plant she was watering. A few moments later, she nodded, satisfied, and placed the plant on a small pallet along with several others like it. "Now, how can I help…Sakura-chan?"

The surprise in Ino's voice shouldn't have bothered Sakura, she knew, but it did. She hadn't seen the blonde since the evening of the bell test, where normally she would have come by to visit for at least a little while nearly every day. It wasn't even like she had the excuse of training hard, as they were still only doing one ridiculously easy mission per day, occasionally with a few hours of training afterwards. Truthfully, she was afraid that Ino would still be upset with her for what she had said at dinner that night.

"I…um…" She trailed off, unsure of what to say. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry, Ino-chan. I hope you're not mad at me still."

Ino looked at her curiously. "Mad at you?" she asked, coming out from behind the sales counter and walking over to Sakura. "For what? I missed you this week, but I guess you've probably been busier than we have. Stupid lazy Shikamaru," she muttered.

"Not really," Sakura admitted, blushing a little. "Kakashi-sensei hasn't been teaching us much of anything at all, and he's only letting us do one mission a day. I just thought that maybe after what I said at dinner…"

"_That's_ why you haven't been coming by to see me?" Ino exclaimed. Sakura winced as her friend glared at her for a moment, then hugged her tightly enough to squeeze the breath out of her.

"Silly Sakura," she said, stepping back a bit. "Yeah, I was kind of mad at you for a little while, I guess, but it's okay. I don't even disagree with you, you know, but did you really have to embarrass me like that? Shikamaru was making fun of me for days."

Sakura winced, for Shikamaru's sake as much as for Ino's, since she was sure her friend had found some way to get back at him for the teasing. "I know," she sighed, "and I really didn't mean to embarrass you, I promise. It's just that I was so tired, and…I don't know. You know I don't like talking about that kind of thing, and it just kind of slipped out. I really am sorry."

Ino waved one hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it," she said. "Now, what has your team been doing? It can't be any worse than ours. Asuma-sensei just sits around and plays shogi or go with Shikamaru all day, it seems, and Chouji and I have to spar by ourselves."

"I wonder if there's some kind of rule for jounin-sensei that says they're not allowed to teach anything," Sakura mused, leaning back against the counter as she watched Ino start to close up the shop for the day. "All Kakashi-sensei does is stand around and read porn while we practice. We've been doing some missions, too—well, if you count weeding gardens, walking dogs, and buying groceries as missions. Oh, and babysitting."

"You're joking," Ino said, giggling a little, then a moment later added, "You're not joking? Suddenly I don't feel so bad about my team…and I was actually wishing we could start doing missions, too, but I think I've changed my mind. Though, I'd probably pay money just to watch Naruto try to babysit."

Sakura smiled at the memory. "You'd be surprised," she said, thinking of how her friend, usually so loud and energetic, had gently held the small child in his arms. Of course, he hadn't dealt so well with having to change her diaper, but Sakura couldn't exactly fault him for that when she herself hadn't even been able to go near the infant girl. Even watching her teammates—and, in a truly shocking turn of events, Kakashi, who for once had put away his little orange book and helped his students—play with and care for the child had caused her heart to ache in ways she had thought she left behind years ago.

Fortunately, the others had seemed to understand, or, at least, they hadn't pressed her when she felt herself withdrawing from them. If they did understand, Sakura wished they would tell her, because she certainly didn't. She was no longer the frightened, lonely orphan girl, no longer the girl for whom books were the only solace and refuge from cruel peers and a too-large, too-empty apartment. She had friends now, had a purpose, and seeing a little girl be fussed over should _not_ have caused any not-quite-jealous feelings to surface within her—but it had, and, obscurely ashamed of herself, she had busied herself with other household chores while her teammates took care of the child.

"So that's all you've been doing?" Ino asked, and Sakura welcomed the distraction from her thoughts. "I saw the other team—you know, Shino and Kiba and Sasuke-kun's—out at one of the training grounds a few days ago, and they looked like they were actually practicing. Guess they got the good jounin-sensei, even if they didn't look like they were doing all that well."

Sakura blinked, surprised. "They weren't? But, even if I don't really like him, Sasuke was the best in our class, and…ugh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Kiba wasn't bad either," she admitted, feeling her face twist into a sour expression. "I don't know all that much about Shino, but I don't remember that he was too awful."

"He isn't," Ino said. "They all looked good by themselves, actually. Before I had to leave, though, I saw part of one of their team exercises, and that was kind of messy."

"Huh." Sakura frowned, then shrugged. Truthfully, she couldn't say she was surprised any more, now that she had a chance to think about it; Sasuke had never done well in team drills at the academy—perhaps the only area in which he had failed to excel—while Shino had always come across as a quiet loner to her, and the less she thought about Kiba, the better. It was somewhat disappointing to find out that they had gotten a decent jounin-sensei, though, when her team was stuck with Kakashi.

"And how about you, the 'number one kunoichi in the year'?" she asked, grinning teasingly as Ino finished with her duties around the shop and came over to stand next to her. "You're not ready to kill off your teammates yet, are you?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Not yet," she said, pouting a little, "though if Asuma-sensei doesn't start paying attention to someone other than Shikamaru soon, I might be tempted. I mean, sure, he's really smart and they both like playing those games, but I can't just spar with Chouji forever."

_Warning! Incoming Ino-rant!_ Sakura thought amusedly. It was clear that, despite her earlier feigned indifference, the blonde was decidedly not happy at being forced to play second fiddle to her teammate. The thought came to Sakura that perhaps Ino's jounin-sensei was attempting to teach her patience, but she immediately dismissed that idea with a poorly-concealed giggle. Not even the gods would have much success in that endeavor, she had a feeling.

"What's funny?" Ino asked. She gave Sakura a suspicious look, then poked her in the ribs—which only made her start giggling even more, as, to her eternal dismay, she was far too ticklish in that particular region. The reaction made Ino grin, as it did every time, and she positioned her hands in a clear threat.

"No! No! I give up!" Sakura exclaimed, fighting to control herself. "Please, no more tickling!" In desperation, she grabbed one of Ino's hands and began pulling her along as she headed for the shop's exit.

"Come on," she said, stifling a few final bursts of laughter, "let's go get something to eat. We got paid today for our first few missions, and I feel like celebrating."

Ino nodded happily, apparently hungry as well, and the two girls smiled at each other as they walked out of the shop. Sakura was thankful the distraction had worked—she really did hate being tickled—but even happier to know that she had her best friend back, even if she had never really lost her in the first place. Her only concern now was what her team was going to do if, or more likely when, the unspoken deadline they had set for Kakashi to start teaching them passed. For now, though, she was content simply to enjoy her friend's company.

- - -

_Why am I here?_ Kakashi wondered to himself as he stood in front of a house he had never expected to enter again. For over six years, he had avoided it and its inhabitants, but something had brought him to change his mind in less than two weeks' time. If he were to be honest with himself, he had to admit he should have come immediately following the bell test, but he had needed time to consider things. Apologizing for words said more than half a decade ago was something for which he had had to prepare himself.

The door opened, and he instantly recognized the woman standing in the doorway. Tiny creases at the corners of her eyes marked the years that had passed since he last saw her, and his practiced eye noted the telltale signs in her carriage and body shape of someone who had once been in peak condition but had allowed herself to slip somewhat, but her hair was still as long and night-dark as it ever had been. Her striking blue eyes, though, held little of the sparkle he remembered from earlier days.

"Hatake-san," she said, her voice devoid of even the slightest trace of emotion. "I had wondered if you would come, after my son told me you had passed a genin team for the first time. Given its members, I'm sure you can understand my amazement at the news."

Not surprised in the least by this reception, Kakashi bowed deeply to her. "I…am sorry, Yukie," he said, for once abandoning the detachment he had cultivated after the deaths of his teammates and teacher. "You were right, and I made a serious mistake when I chose to oppose you. I wish that it hadn't taken me so long to realize that."

There was no need for him to specify what he meant; they both knew, and neither had forgotten that day. For several long moments, the wife of his old teacher, now the mother of one of his new students, simply stared at him. Finally, she nodded once, sharply, and motioned for him to enter. As she closed the door behind him and led him to the dining room, he took note of the changes that had been made to the house's interior since the last time he had seen it, most of them obvious products of a not-quite-teenaged boy's residence. Scuff marks on the stairs, several well-patched dents in the walls, even what looked suspiciously like a scorched patch on the wooden flooring in one of the halls—all of them gave the home a lived-in feel that seemed somehow right.

"I have to apologize for the mess," Yukie said, apparently having noticed his glance at the burn mark. "Naruto was practicing some basic fire techniques inside—for which he _will_ be punished—and it seems he hasn't gotten around to cleaning up yet." Her voice, though no longer quite so cold as it had been when she first saw him, was still not precisely welcoming, and as they sat down he noticed that she failed to offer him anything to eat or drink.

Kakashi nodded. "During training sessions I've noticed he has rather…impulsive tendencies," he replied, content to allow her to control the conversation's direction. While she was not as direct as her husband or son, he was certain she would get to the point sooner rather than later.

He was surprised, though, when she actually laughed. "I suppose that's one way of putting things," she said, a brief smile appearing on her face. "How are they all doing? I read their final academy results, of course, but those never tell the full story."

Not stopping to wonder how she had obtained Sakura or Hinata's academy reports—being the widow of a former Hokage, not to mention at one point a well-respected jounin in her own right, gave Kazama Yukie a fair amount of latitude in such matters—Kakashi shrugged. "Hinata's abilities are fairly close to what the reports say. If anything, they underestimate her taijutsu skills, but she needs a fair amount of practice with her ninjutsu. I don't think it's a lack of ability so much as insufficient training, which doesn't surprise me at all assuming she's been taught to fill her role as Hyuuga heir.

"Sakura's reports, on the other hand," he continued, surprised to find that it was not as difficult to remain objective as he had expected, "are somewhat less accurate, and contain one especially glaring omission. Apparently, the Hokage himself has been personally instructing her in fuuinjutsu for over three years now—why, I don't know, since both of them refuse to tell me—and her chakra control is nearly as good as my own. Other than that, I'm almost surprised she was able to pass the academy's final exams, because her taijutsu skills in particular are pathetic. Her ninjutsu isn't quite so bad, but I suspect she's better suited for genjutsu."

"Does that mean you don't think she's…what was it? Ah, right—'a critical threat to this village's safety who should be permitted as little human contact as possible' any more?" The edge in Yukie's voice could have drawn blood, and Kakashi winced as he recognized the words he had spoken so many years ago.

"No," he said quietly, "I don't. Not any more. From what I've seen, she's simply a girl—unusually intelligent and mature for her age, perhaps, but hardly the monster I accused her of being. I owe you an apology."

Yukie frowned. "I don't think I'm the one you should be apologizing to," she said, her tone almost angry. "I'm not the girl who was forced to live on her own at an age when most children can't even fix their own breakfasts. If she's mature for her age, I think the reason why is fairly obvious, don't you?"

"I _know_," Kakashi sighed, feeling a faint flash of annoyance himself. "Don't forget the way I grew up. If either of us knows what she went through, it's me."

Yukie had the good grace to look somewhat embarrassed at his words, and she opened her mouth, perhaps to apologize. Kakashi held up one hand to stop her, though. "I wouldn't have wished my childhood on anyone," he continued, "but it seems like that's exactly what I did—and I would apologize to her if I could, but I can't. It would be pointless to try without being able to tell her why I did what I did, and I can't do that because of the law."

"I suppose you're right," Yukie said after a few moments' thought, though she still didn't look happy. "As for myself, I would have forgiven you long ago. What I said back then…well, I was furious with you when I said it, but six years is a long time to hold a grudge. I'll always regret not being allowed to raise her as my own child, but she seems to have turned out well regardless. Perhaps it simply wasn't meant to be."

Despite her words, Kakashi could see that the situation still bothered her more than she was willing to admit. He didn't doubt that she had forgiven him, but he suspected that she would never really be able to forgive herself for being unable to adopt the girl he now knew to be the innocent victim of her husband's desperate plan to save the village. From eavesdropping on his genin, he knew that Sakura had never even met her, and he wondered how deep Yukie's feelings of guilt ran.

"It wasn't your fault. You shouldn't blame yourself for the council's decision when not even the Hokage was able to change their minds," he said suddenly, only realizing after he spoke that perhaps the topic was too intimate to be brought up in the first conversation he had had with her in six years.

Fortunately, she didn't appear to take offense at his words, only smiling sadly and shaking her head. "Just like you shouldn't blame yourself for Obito's death? Or Rin's?" she asked. "Sometimes what you know in your head doesn't make much difference to how you feel in your heart. You know that as well as I do, Kakashi.

"Now, enough of the past," she added, forcing a deliberately light tone. "My son has been complaining that you haven't been teaching him or his teammates anything, and that the missions they've been on are 'boring and stupid,' I believe were the words he used."

Kakashi was surprised to find himself actually laughing, grateful not just for the change of subject but for the realization that she truly had forgiven him. He had missed talking with her, though he had tried to pretend—even to himself—that he hadn't. "You know what D-rank missions are like," he said, "especially the ones earmarked for genin fresh out of the academy. They're ready for more, actually; I've just been waiting to see how long it's going to take them to finally snap and do something about it. So far, I have to say I'm impressed with their self-control but disappointed in their lack of initiative."

"Tomorrow," Yukie said, a tiny smile appearing on her lips. "Apparently you've been given a deadline. If you don't give them a harder mission or start teaching them by tomorrow, they're going to talk to the Hokage. I believe Sakura is the one who managed to talk them into that plan."

_Somehow, that doesn't surprise me_, Kakashi thought. _She definitely seems like the planning type, and she's far more patient than the other two._ The dynamics of his team had come to fascinate him, as unlike most teams, none of the three genin had taken on a true leadership role. Instead, Naruto and Hinata seemed to defer to Sakura when developing initial strategies, while Naruto was the one who came up with the ways to implement her plans. Interestingly, Hinata, the only one of them who would hold a definite position of power in the future, seemed content to follow her teammates' lead most of the time.

Of course, that was all based on the way they behaved while carrying out routine, everyday tasks, as well as their performance during the bell test. When faced with actual combat situations, it was entirely possible that they would behave quite differently. Somehow, though, he didn't think so.

Aloud, he simply said, "Tomorrow, huh? This could be fun."

- - -

As Sakura walked into the Hokage's outer office along with her teammates, she couldn't shake the impression that something was somehow off about how the day had been going so far. They hadn't had a mission that morning, so their training session had run somewhat longer than usual. As she had come to expect by now, Kakashi hadn't actually taught them anything, but something about his attitude had been different—more focused, perhaps. At several points, she had been sure he was about to step in and demonstrate something for them, but it was as though he had changed his mind at the last moment each time, almost like he was teasing them.

One of the few non-academic subjects in which she had excelled at the academy had been situational awareness. While she might not possess Naruto's finely-honed chakra detection abilities, she had discovered she had an uncanny sensitivity for being able to tell when something about a situation simply felt _wrong_—and every single one of her instincts was warning her that her team was walking into something for which they weren't prepared. On the surface, it seemed ridiculous; they were in possibly the most secure area in the entire village, surrounded by highly-trained ninja. Even the idea that they might be in danger was unthinkable—and in any event, she didn't have quite the same sort of feeling as she had when her class had been tested on their ability to detect lethal traps.

_Still, better safe than sorry_, Sakura thought to herself, tugging on Naruto and Hinata's arms to halt them.

"Careful," she murmured, just quietly enough not to be heard by the chuunin guards standing by the door to the Hokage's inner office. "Something feels funny about this." Naruto and Hinata nodded, and she stepped forward and addressed the left-hand guard.

"Excuse me," she said, "but do you know if Hokage-sama is busy right now?" She didn't expect any trouble; the chuunin might not have liked her much, but by now they were used to her occasional visits to the Hokage, even if they didn't understand why she was one of the privileged few whom he would sometimes see without an appointment. Still, she was surprised when the man simply shook his head and opened the door, as normally she would have been made to wait while he checked with the Hokage.

That only added to her sense of unease, but as she and her teammates walked into the inner office, she saw nothing amiss. The Hokage was seated behind his desk as usual, smoking his pipe and reading through a thick sheaf of papers, and all of the other chairs were empty.

"Nice to see I haven't lost my touch."

If she could have jumped out of her skin, she would have. "Kakashi-sensei!" she blurted out, whirling around. Out of the corners of her eyes, she could see Naruto and Hinata doing the same, identical expressions of surprise on their faces. Naruto in particular looked stunned, for which she couldn't really blame him, as he had always been able to sense Kakashi's presence up until now.

"Aura concealment," Kakashi said, in answer to their unspoken question. "It's a fairly difficult genjutsu, and I'm not surprised none of you were able to pick up on it. It only works against chakra sensing, though; if any of you had actually thought to look behind you, or if Hinata had used her byakugan at any point, you would have seen me. Lesson one: Don't take any of your senses for granted. Always be prepared to look underneath the underneath."

Sakura's jaw dropped. _Did he actually just explain something new to us?_ she wondered incredulously. That thought was followed immediately by another—namely, _How did he know we were going to come here?_

Her thoughts were interrupted when the Hokage looked up from his papers, though. "Ah, Team Seven," he said around the stem of his pipe, nodding slowly. "I was wondering when you would show up. How can I help you?"

"Did _everyone_ know what we were planning?" Naruto exclaimed, a sour look on his face. Despite her own annoyance, Sakura couldn't help but laugh at him, though she quickly sobered when she realized that now they would be forced to explain themselves while the object of their complaints was in the room with them.

_Well, at least that explains why I was feeling so weird about this just now_, she thought. She did wonder, though, what could possibly have triggered her instincts when she had been just as clueless regarding Kakashi's presence in the room as her teammates. When she had first noticed her unusually sharp danger sense, she had wondered uneasily if it was somehow a product of the Nine-Tails sealed within her, but as she learned more about sealing techniques in general, she had dismissed that possibility. Now, though, she found herself wondering about it again.

Frowning, she put that thought out of her mind for the moment and gave Naruto a nudge with her elbow; they had decided that he should be the one to speak for them, even though—or, more accurately, especially because—Sakura knew the Hokage much better. She hadn't wanted to appear to be trying to trade on the fact that she was his student and ward, despite knowing that he would treat her no differently in official matters because of those relationships.

"Huh?" Naruto said, wincing slightly—perhaps she had elbowed him a bit too forcefully, she thought. "Oh, right. Well…um…we were kind of wondering if jounin-sensei are actually supposed to teach anything, or if they're just there to stand around and give us stupid chores disguised as missions."

Now it was Sakura's turn to wince, and she saw Hinata echoing her expression as well. Whatever else he might be, Naruto was about as far from subtle as it was possible to get. She hadn't considered that when she had come up with this loose plan, and now she was wishing she had tried harder to convince Hinata to present their case instead. She turned a pleading gaze on her friend and was immeasurably relieved to see her nod and give a tiny sigh.

"I think what Naruto-kun means," Hinata said, her tone smooth and measured, betraying none of the nervousness Sakura was sure she was feeling, "is that Kakashi-sensei just taught us more in the last two minutes than he has in the last week and a half. While each of us trains privately, we know we need instruction in the fundamental ninja disciplines as well, and we were hoping you might be able to talk to him and find out why he seems reluctant to teach us."

Sakura stared at her friend, impressed. Not only had Hinata presented their case far more succinctly and eloquently—not to mention less insultingly—than Sakura herself could have, she had managed to work in a thinly veiled reference to the fact that none of them were precisely run-of-the-mill genin. Apparently the political lessons she had always complained about to the others had turned out to be useful after all.

"Don't forget the missions," Naruto added, oblivious to the glower Sakura turned on him. "I actually kind of liked a couple of them, but I don't see what grocery shopping or dog walking have to do with being a ninja."

"They're still official missions," Sakura reminded him with a sigh. "We talked about that on the way over here, remember?" She had looked up everything she could find about how missions were organized, and, much to her dismay, nearly all D-rank missions were apparently very similar to the ones they had done already.

"Perhaps I have a solution for both of your problems," the Hokage said, startling her. He shuffled through the papers on his desk, then pulled out a thin folder with blue tape marking the edges. After glancing through the papers inside it, he stood up and walked over to Kakashi, handing the folder to him before sitting down in one of the more comfortable chairs in the room.

"Last night, one of our ninja stole a certain scroll from my private library and escaped from the village," he said. "A chuunin team has been dispatched to hunt him down and recover the scroll, but that leaves their original assignment open—which, of course, is where you come in.

"A small farming community near the border with Rice Field Country has contracted for a team to guard their fields during the busiest part of the harvest season. This is classified as a C-rank mission due to the community's distance from our village, but it is not important enough to justify the effort of reassigning another chuunin team to take it. Hidden Leaf intelligence reports show no signs of bandit activity in that area, so it should be safe even for genin, and it will give you field experience and several weeks' worth of time in which to begin your training."

Naruto's face lit up with a broad grin. "All right!" he said, practically bouncing up and down from excitement. "We're getting a real mission!" His enthusiasm was infectious enough that Sakura found herself smiling as well, though she noticed that Hinata seemed less pleased by the news.

"How long will we be gone?" the pale-eyed girl asked, glancing at the folder in Kakashi's hands somewhat nervously.

"Nearly three weeks total," Kakashi said as he flipped through the papers in the folder. "It's a two-week contract, and about three days' travel to the settlement each way."

At that, Hinata appeared relieved, and she smiled as well. "So, when do we leave?" she asked.

Kakashi took three sheets of paper from the folder and passed one to each of the genin. Sakura glanced down at hers; it seemed to be a supplies and equipment list, and she noted with some relief that she already possessed most of the items on it. At least they were going to be inside Fire Country borders for the whole mission, which meant that they would be able to use the travel shelters set at intervals along the main roads. Her one experience with tent camping, during the wilderness survival exam her third year, had not ended well.

"We'll be leaving the day after tomorrow," Kakashi said, once they all had their lists. "Be at the main gate at six in the morning. No practice tomorrow, since you'll need time to gather your supplies." With that, he waved and—to Sakura's astonishment—actually walked out of the office rather than poofing away in his trademark burst of smoke.

The Hokage looked up from his seat at the three genin. "If that is everything you wished to discuss, I believe we are finished," he said. "Sakura, please stay behind a moment."

It was clearly a dismissal, and Naruto and Hinata quickly left the office, though not before giving Sakura sympathetic looks. Sakura herself was confused, not sure what the Hokage would want to talk to her about that couldn't have waited until their next lesson together. _Except, _she realized, feeling rather stupid as she did, _if we're leaving in two days, we won't be having any lessons after this until I get back._

"This will not take long, Sakura-chan," the Hokage said, motioning for her to take the seat across from him. "And no, you are not in trouble. While I would have recommended speaking with Kakashi before coming to me, I understand that he can be…difficult to reach much of the time. Now, as you have no doubt realized, we will not be having any lessons for the next three weeks, for obvious reasons."

Sakura nodded, glad that the Hokage wasn't upset with her for convincing her team to come talk to him about the problems they were having with their jounin-sensei. She hadn't really thought he would be—it was his job to take care of things like that, after all—but she hadn't been able to discount the possibility entirely.

"While you are on missions outside the village," he continued, "you may practice on your own. Nobody except Kakashi will associate a Leaf genin with the vessel of the Nine-Tails, and he knows of your abilities already. Indeed, if you have any questions while you are away, you may wish to ask him; he is not a sealing expert, but he does have some knowledge of the art."

_All right!_ Sakura echoed Naruto's earlier exclamation, if only within her mind. She had always wished she could practice her fuuinjutsu skills more than once a week, and now she had been given permission to do just that. Not only that, the Hokage's comment about how nobody where they would be going would recognize her filled her with absolute joy. For the first time in her life, she would be exactly what she had always wanted to be—just another girl, with anything special about her being because of something _she_ did, not because of something that had been done to her when she was less than a day old.

"…and I see you are not even paying attention to me any more, so I think I will let you go now," the Hokage said, giving her a wry smile. Sakura blushed deeply as she stood and bowed, hoping she hadn't missed anything important.

"Oh, and Sakura?" he called out to her as she walked away. "Good luck. A ninja's first real mission is an important event in his or her life, and I hope to hear good things from you when you return."

- - -

"You're…you're _not late!_" Naruto exclaimed, barely able to believe it when he felt Kakashi's chakra signature approaching. It was exactly six in the morning, and the night guards at the gate were just now being relieved by the first set of day guards. He had been there for the past hour, unable to fall back asleep when he had woken up early. Fortunately, his mother had been up early as well, so he was well fed in preparation for the journey.

Sakura and Hinata, who had been sitting nearby and eating a small breakfast of their own, stood up and grabbed their packs. They both looked a little sleepy, though Naruto couldn't understand how they could possibly be anything less than wide awake when they were about to leave the village on their very first mission—since he figured the D-rank missions they had been doing up until now didn't really count.

Kakashi simply shook his head, probably in disappointment that he had ruined his perfect record of being at least two hours late to everything, Naruto thought. "Let's get going," he said, once the two girls had gathered their packs and come over to stand by Naruto. "We have a long way to travel. Once we get to where we'll be staying for the evening, I'll show you a way to travel faster, but it will probably take you a few days to make it work properly."

This second shock in as many minutes—not only was Kakashi on time, he had just said he would teach them something—proved too much for Naruto, and he turned and pointed his finger at the jounin. "Who are you, and what have you done with Kakashi-sensei?" he asked accusingly, causing his teammates to break out into fits of giggles.

Kakashi rolled his eyes, then disappeared. At that same moment, Naruto felt something push him in the small of his back, and he stumbled forward. He recovered quickly and turned around, already looking around for whatever had hit him, when he realized he was missing something.

"My…pack?" he started to shout, then trailed off when he saw Kakashi, who was standing right where Naruto had been, holding a very familiar-looking pack in one hand.

_Wow…he's fast!_ Naruto thought, feeling more than a bit of awe. _He moved behind me and took my pack off even before I realized he was gone._ His mother had told him a little about Kakashi, since she had known him when he was only a genin himself, but hearing about the man's skill was completely different from experiencing it firsthand. Naruto had known he was holding back during the bell test, but he hadn't thought it was by this much.

"Now," Kakashi drawled, "if nobody else has any comments, let's go." He tossed Naruto his pack and turned to walk through the gate and out of the village, Hinata and Sakura close behind him.

Naruto thought he heard Hinata murmur, "Goodbye, village," somewhat wistfully as they passed under the arched gateway, and he turned and smiled reassuringly at her. Like her, he had never been outside the village walls for more than a few hours before, and underneath all his excitement, he couldn't deny that he was a little nervous as well. This mission might be about as unimportant as it was possible for a C-rank mission to get, but it still marked the first time in his life that he would be on his own—well, not exactly that, he supposed, since his teammates and Kakashi were with him, but he no longer had the safety of the village around him. Judging by her expression, Hinata was feeling much the same way, but Sakura, on the other hand, appeared blissfully oblivious.

_Or maybe not_, he thought, frowning slightly. _Maybe she's realized the same thing, but it makes her happy instead._ That thought filled him with a mixture of sadness and anger—the former at the idea that his friend could be so unhappy that she was excited not just about the mission, but about simply leaving the village, and the latter at the people who made her feel that way. He had seen the villagers' reactions to her, and they made him wonder how anyone could be so hateful towards someone who had never done anything to hurt them—and while he sometimes suspected that Sakura was hiding things even from her friends, he was certain that she had done nothing to deserve the way she was treated.

_Please_, he found himself hoping, _let her still want to come back with us after this is over._ He didn't think he could stand the idea of her becoming a missing-nin, with hunter teams after her—and as the Hokage's student, he was sure she wouldn't simply be allowed to leave. He knew he was probably being silly and exaggerating things, that she was just glad to be doing anything other than boring D-rank missions, but something in the way her eyes sparkled as she grinned joyfully, not even even giving a backward glance at the village as they walked away, made him unable to completely dismiss his worries.

- - -

Author's Notes: Hm...not really a whole lot to say here about this chapter. Sakura being silly, a bit more of Kakashi's past as it relates to Naruto's mother and Sakura, and the start of a new mission--mixed with a few scattered things that won't seem important for quite a while. Next chapter, naturally, will be all about the mission. My thanks to all of you who reviewed last chapter, and I hope you all enjoyed reading this one!


	10. Nine: A Choice Made

_Stupid trees…stupid chakra…stupid—_ow!—_Kakashi-sensei_, Sakura thought to herself as she ran into yet another branch. Traveling by jumping from tree branch to tree branch might well be faster than taking the roads, but she would have been _more_ than happy to forego the extra speed in exchange for not feeling quite so sore from running into branches and light-headed from constant chakra usage once they stopped for the evening. At least Team Seven would reach the farming settlement today, so she would hopefully be able to sleep on something more comfortable than the bare wooden boards that passed for cots in the travel shelters.

Neither she nor her teammates had been especially tired after the first day of travel, so they had all been enthusiastic when Kakashi had told them he was going to teach them how to use their chakra to cling to trees and jump between branches. In Fire Country, where the vast majority of the land was densely forested, this offered a swift and, more importantly, nearly undetectable means of travel, and they had all seen the benefits immediately. He had warned them that they probably wouldn't pick it up right away—perhaps not even in time to make use of it on the way to the settlement—but that had only made them all the more determined to master it as soon as possible.

Now, as she spat out a clump of leaves that had somehow found its way into her mouth and focused on Naruto, who was bounding from limb to limb just ahead of her like a demented blond squirrel, Sakura found herself wishing they hadn't been quite so enthusiastic. Granted, it meant that they would reach their destination nearly half a day ahead of schedule despite the time spent learning to tree-hop, but she wasn't sure any of the others realized how much of an effort this was for her; in a way, though, that was good, because she was determined not to be the one responsible for slowing her teammates down.

Hinata, surprisingly—or perhaps not—had been the first to master the new technique. She had simply used her byakugan to watch the flow of Kakashi's chakra through his coils as he demonstrated first how to use a small amount of chakra to cling to a tree, then "flare" it while jumping forward in order to gain extra speed and distance. Even without that natural advantage, though, Sakura had been pleased to find that she could manipulate her chakra well enough to walk up and down tree trunks and branches on her very first try, but it had taken her much longer to master the jumping aspect.

_I just wish it didn't make me so uncomfortable_, she thought unhappily, absently ducking below a low-hanging branch and leaping to the next tree. While the technique didn't precisely expend chakra, it did require a certain amount of effort to keep the chakra field stabilized and even more in order to jump properly—and the latter amount was very close to the maximum she could use without drawing too much from her reserves. When she tried to make the longer jumps, she felt a not-quite-painful sensation that warned her she was almost overextending herself, even though she wasn't actually using any of the chakra she had called up. On the positive side, though, at least Kakashi had said that the constant use would help increase the capacity of her reserves.

Naruto, of course, had no such problems. She couldn't quite bring herself to feel jealous of him, though, when she remembered how on his first attempted jump, he had flared his chakra too much and blown the branch he was standing on to sawdust—incidentally ending up with a great number of splinters in what looked like some very uncomfortable places. Fortunately, while painful, the wounds had proven to be minor, and he had been back up and practicing again barely an hour later. Needless to say, he had made certain not to repeat his prior mistake, and he was jumping between trees not long after Hinata managed it.

He did still have a tendency to overshoot his target, but Sakura couldn't fault him for that when she undershot hers even more frequently. It wasn't even that she couldn't make the jumps—she could, and she usually did—but something about drawing that much chakra from her reserves made her very uneasy. It was probably just another aftereffect of having completely drained herself during the bell test, she assumed, but knowing that didn't make her any more comfortable when she did it.

_Is it just my imagination, or are these trees getting further apart?_ she wondered. She had almost missed her last few jumps despite exerting herself fully, and from what she could see, even Naruto was going more slowly now, presumably from having to judge the distances more carefully. From what she remembered of her wilderness survival classes, that meant that they were approaching the edge of the forest.

"Okay, everybody down," she heard Kakashi call out, confirming her speculation. It was bad form to frighten customers, he had told them that morning, and four ninja suddenly appearing from the trees certainly had the potential to do just that; as a result, they would travel the rest of the way to the settlement on foot in order to give the people living there time to see them coming. Personally, Sakura didn't see how three twelve-year-olds would be all that frightening regardless of the manner in which they arrived, but he had just shaken his head and said that she was too accustomed to thinking like a ninja—and more than that, like a resident of a hidden village where ninja were commonplace.

Shrugging, she dropped to the ground, barely stifling a groan of relief as she let her chakra flow back into her body. She would have a headache later on, she could tell, but it shouldn't be quite as bad as previous nights' had been. She wasn't certain whether that was simply because they hadn't been traveling for as long today or because she was getting used to the continuous strain, though she hoped it was the latter.

"Almost there!" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully as he dropped down to stand next to her on the packed earth of the road—really more of a trail, she thought, but this far away from the more populated parts of Fire Country, she supposed nothing more sophisticated was warranted. Hinata joined them a few moments later, looking relieved to be almost finished with the first part of the trip; she might have been the first to figure out Kakashi's tree-traveling technique, but she had admitted to her teammates that it was still rather tiring for her, if not nearly so much as it was for Sakura.

"We're about ten minutes out from the settlement," Kakashi said as he appeared in front of them from around a bend in the road. "According to the terms of the contract, we'll be staying in a hut near the largest of the communal fields. Some families have their own fields as well, but we won't have to worry about those. After we get things arranged at our hut, I'll go over the guard schedule with you."

All three genin nodded. From what Kakashi had told them along the way—not much, annoyingly—they would only be guarding the fields during the night, in order to ensure that nobody tried to damage the crops while everyone was sleeping. Several years ago, apparently a bandit gang had burned one of the fields down to the roots and threatened to do the same to the others, hence the reason why the community had hired ninja to guard them every year since then. The services of a team of Hidden Leaf ninja did not come cheaply, but they were less expensive than having to pay off bandits or suffer the loss of a year's harvest.

"Now, let's go," Kakashi said. "It's good that we're arriving early, since that will give us time to familiarize ourselves with the layout of the settlement before tonight." With that, he turned and began walking away, leaving Sakura and her teammates to follow after him.

- - -

Frowning pensively, Hinata watched Sakura unpack her supplies. The hut where Team Seven would be staying for the next two weeks only had two bedrooms, each only large enough for one person, so it was something of a relief when Kakashi had told them that they would be standing guard each night in pairs—one pair from sundown until midnight, and one from midnight to sunrise. They had drawn straws for their pairings, and since she had ended up with Naruto while Sakura would be with Kakashi, it only made sense for the two girls to share a room.

_Not that we'll really be sharing it so much as both of us leaving our things here_, she thought. Each pair would sleep during the other's shift, so she and Sakura would never actually be in the room at the same time. None of the genin were looking forward to the decreased amount of sleep they would be getting, but according to Kakashi, this sort of arrangement was fairly common for ninja on guard missions. They would still get to see each other during the day, so they would be able to train then. All in all, it would probably be rough for the first few days as they adjusted to their new schedules, but Hinata figured it would work out fine after that.

What had her frowning, though, was Sakura's attitude—or, more accurately, the cause of it. Her pink-haired teammate had been in a perpetually happy mood ever since they arrived at the farming settlement, a sharp contrast to how tired and grumpy she had been the past couple of days. Hinata could understand the grumpiness, as the unfamiliar exertion of traveling long distances had worn her out as well, but the shift in Sakura's mood had corresponded too closely to their team's welcome by the community elders to be a coincidence. The way they had treated her stood out in sharp contrast to the way the villagers back home seemed to feel, and it didn't say good things about the latter group.

Hinata loved her clan and her village. She was proud to be a Hyuuga, despite her family's flaws, and equally proud to be a citizen of the Hidden Leaf, but sometimes it was hard to remember that. Over the past several years, Sakura had become one of her closest friends, and it bothered Hinata to see not just how she was treated by nearly everyone in the village but especially how she seemed to be resigned to that fact. Here, though, the elders had treated Sakura no differently than they had Hinata or Naruto, and the pleasure evident on her face when she noticed that had been almost painful for Hinata to watch.

"Um…Hinata-chan, is there something wrong?" Sakura asked, startling her. She realized she must have been staring at her friend for quite a while, as all of Sakura's belongings were neatly laid out on the narrow shelves that passed for storage space in the room.

Hinata blushed slightly. "No, sorry. I was just…thinking. What are those?" she asked, noticing that Sakura was still holding something—several somethings, actually—in her hands.

"Let's go get Naruto, and I'll show you," Sakura said, apparently trying for a mysterious expression—though that was ruined when she grinned widely and opened the door, then practically skipped out into the hallway.

Curious now, Hinata followed her into the room where Naruto and Kakashi would be sleeping, though only Naruto was there at the moment. It looked exactly the same as their own room, if she discounted the rather less neatly arranged personal items on the shelves. Apparently, Sakura had just woken Naruto up—and how he had managed to fall asleep in the last ten minutes was beyond her, though she supposed she should be used to that peculiar quirk of his by now. In any event, she wanted to know what Sakura was holding and what it had to do with her and Naruto.

"Before we left, I looked up the seal that medic-nins use to monitor patients' vital signs," Sakura began unceremoniously, leaning against one wall while Hinata sat beside Naruto on his bed, "and I want to put one on both of you so that I'll know if you get in trouble while you're on guard duty. That way I'll be able to alert Kakashi-sensei so he can help you. I already asked him, and he said he thought it was a good idea, too."

Naruto looked puzzled. "But what if you get in trouble?" he asked. "Besides, I thought the Hokage said that there weren't any enemies around here anyways."

"Well, I'll be with Kakashi-sensei in the first place, so it doesn't really matter if I don't have one," Sakura said, shrugging. "It's just a precaution, really. Plus…well, I haven't ever tried forming this kind of seal, so it would be good practice for me. You don't have to if you don't want to, though."

Hinata had grown skilled at seeing past people's facades, and she could tell that despite her words, this was important to her friend for some reason. She wasn't sure why—she agreed with Naruto that there didn't seem to be much point when the worst they would likely encounter while on guard would be stiff muscles from standing out in the cold for too long—but at the moment that didn't matter. Perhaps Sakura simply needed to know that someone trusted her enough to let her practice this seal on them.

"Okay," she said, giving her friend a smile. "You aren't going to tattoo it on me or anything, though, right? I know my father wouldn't appreciate that very much, and I don't think I would either."

Sakura shook her head and laughed, holding up the objects in her hand, which Hinata could now see were a vial of some sort of ink and a thin, delicate brush. "No," she said, "I brought some waterproof ink with me. I'll probably need to redo the seals after about a week, but we should be able to take baths or get rained on without messing them up. Now, I need to put your half of the seal on the back of your neck, so could you…?"

She trailed off, motioning with one hand for Hinata to stand up and turn around. Hinata was grateful that she had short hair, as she wouldn't have to hold it out of the way while Sakura did…whatever it was she needed to do. Behind her, she could hear Sakura humming softly, and she flinched slightly as she felt something cold and wet touch the nape of her neck. Forcing herself to relax, she fought to keep from giggling; the brush was tickling her, and she didn't want to move and ruin the seal.

"There, done," Sakura said after a few minutes, satisfaction evident in her voice. "Now I just have to do my half." Turning to her, Hinata saw she was drawing something on the inside of her left wrist. Apparently, that seal was less complex, as she finished in much less time than she had spent on Hinata's.

"And finally, activating them." At first somewhat hesitantly, then with greater confidence, Sakura formed a lengthy series of hand seals before touching her wrist to the back of Hinata's neck. After one final seal—one-handed, Hinata was somewhat surprised to see—the design on her wrist seemed to glitter a pale green before fading back to black. At the same instant, Hinata felt a cool tingling sensation where she knew the seal had been drawn on her neck, almost like an ice cube had been placed there momentarily.

Naruto looked surprised. "That's it?" he asked. "I thought it would be something complicated."

"Oh, like you could have done it," Sakura shot back playfully, sticking out her tongue at him. Hinata was relieved; she didn't know that much about sealing techniques, but she did know that medical techniques in general were far from simple, and she wouldn't have blamed Sakura if she had gotten upset at Naruto. He was the best friend anyone could ever wish for, but he wasn't always exactly tactful, and he had a tendency to underestimate the amount of effort other people put into things—not because of any unkindness but simply because he himself was so talented that he didn't quite grasp that not everyone found them as easy as he did.

She had a feeling, though, that in this area he had more than met his match. "Sakura-chan," she asked casually, playing a hunch, "do you remember what rank this technique is?"

Sakura shook her head. "No," she said, though her embarrassed blush was a sure sign she was lying. It was at least C-rank, then, Hinata suspected. She gave Naruto a significant glance and, upon seeing his slightly shamefaced expression, could tell that he realized he had been rather tactless even by his standards.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," he apologized. "It's just that all this doesn't seem very hard compared to stuff like ninjutsu or genjutsu. I know you've been studying it for a long time, though, so I guess you just make it look really easy."

_Bad start, but a fairly decent save at the end_, Hinata thought, rolling her eyes and giving him a shove off the bed.

"Your turn now," she said, stretching out lazily as she half-closed her eyes. After the past few days of travel, the thin mattress felt heavenly, and for once she could understand how Naruto had fallen asleep so quickly.

Several minutes later, it was her turn to be pushed off the bed, and she muttered indignantly from her position on the floor as she opened her eyes. To her surprise, she saw Naruto helping Sakura lie down. Placing a finger to his lips, he caught her arm and pulled her out into the hallway, closing the door behind them.

"I think that technique must use a lot of chakra—well, for her, at least," Naruto said, shaking his head. "She was already tired from the trip here, and then she did that…whatever it was, twice in a row. We don't have guard duty for another few hours, and we have the first shift anyways, so she'll have time to sleep for a while. We can just ask Kakashi-sensei to sleep in your room tonight."

Hinata nodded, though she suspected that Sakura was more tired physically than from chakra usage. She had noticed that her friend had a tendency to make short jumps much of the time while tree-hopping, with the inevitable result being that she had to take more jumps to cover the same amount of distance. That would be enough to wear anyone out, and Naruto was right as well; performing a fairly complicated technique—twice, even—couldn't have helped matters.

"Well, let's go find Kakashi-sensei and then do some exploring," she said, smiling at him and walking towards the hut's front door. "If we're going to be here for two whole weeks, we might as well scout things out. Also…I wanted to ask if you had noticed anything unusual about Sakura since we started this mission."

- - -

Sakura sometimes wondered if her friends really realized how observant she was. She knew they appreciated it from a practical perspective during the exercises and drills they had been doing, but she wasn't sure they noticed that she paid attention to _them_, too. It was something of an unconscious habit for her, a relic of the time when she hadn't been able to trust anyone except the Hokage, and she had never quite outgrown it.

Now, she was almost flattered by Naruto and Hinata's attention, though she was a bit disappointed in them as well. She knew they were worried she would decide to leave the village, and she would be lying if she said she had never even considered it, especially since beginning this mission. The people here were polite, even friendly when they managed to forget that she was one of the ninja sent to guard them, and, in general, were everything the villagers back home were not—at least to her. Leaving the Hidden Leaf would mean abandoning the Hokage, though, and her friends. She would not—_could_ not—do that; they had risked their own reputations and more simply by associating with her, and she knew in her heart that she would sooner die than betray their loyalty and friendship.

Sakura could understand why her friends might be worried, though. For years, they had seen first-hand how she was treated, and if not for them, she would have been sorely tempted by the prospect of leaving now that she was in a position to do so. Eventually, she might have to do so regardless of what she wished, for once the Hokage finished teaching her all he knew of fuuinjutsu, she would have to either seek out another master or continue her studies by herself—and she knew she wasn't ready for the latter, not yet.

Pushing aside such thoughts for the moment, she closed her eyes and smiled as she felt the cool night wind brush past her, setting an errant strand of hair to tickling her nose. She suppressed a sneeze and tucked the offending lock back into her braid, shaking her head as she did so. Over the past week, she had learned that guard duty was, if nothing else, terribly boring, and she was quickly running out of ways to keep awake and watchful. At least Kakashi would be back soon, giving her the opportunity to move around a bit as she made her rounds of the outer fields.

Her jounin-sensei still confused her, despite the amount of time he had spent with her and her teammates during this mission. He was obviously intelligent—he had given her several useful bits of advice on using various types of seals to set ambushes and traps—yet he seemed so lazy and undisciplined most of the time. While they were on guard duty, though, he was like a different person: cold, focused, and above all efficient. The transformation was startling and more than slightly intimidating; at those times, she could see why he was considered one of the Leaf's deadliest ninja.

He was also a good teacher, at least when he could be bothered to teach. That still wasn't as often as she, Hinata, and especially Naruto would have liked, but Sakura couldn't deny that she was learning quite a lot from him. Much to her dismay, though, he had insisted that she bring her taijutsu skills up to a reasonable level by his standards before he would start teaching her any genjutsu. She could see the sense in that, she supposed, as neither genjutsu nor fuuinjutsu worked well in isolation, and she knew she would be grateful if and when she ever had a solo mission. Right now, though, she wished she could just focus on learning how to set up opponents for Hinata and Naruto to finish off.

"The northern and western fields are clear. Go check the southern and eastern ones; I'll stand watch here."

_Speak of the devil_, Sakura thought, nodding once as Kakashi seemed to melt out of the darkness to stand next to her. He had decided that this central storehouse was important enough to warrant a full-time guard, so they switched off periodically to patrol the fields themselves. At first, she had felt very exposed and nervous while she was out on her own in the outlying fields, but that had gradually faded as she grew more accustomed to the area. Now, she actually enjoyed her patrol time, as at least it was a welcome break from the monotony of standing watch.

She coiled up her braid and pulled a dark hood over her hair, sighing inaudibly as she shook her head a few times to make sure it wouldn't come loose. Not for the first time, she seriously considered dyeing it black or dark brown when she got back to the village; pink simply wasn't a good color for a ninja who had to worry about someone possibly spotting her in the darkness. Despite its distinctiveness, though, she had to admit she liked her hair, and she couldn't quite bring herself to abandon one of her few vanities.

Padding out along the path leading to the first field, she kept a careful watch out for anything unusual. Since coming to this community, she had gained a new appreciation for just how much these crops meant to the people living here and how devastating it would be if something were to happen to them. The Hokage might have said that the intelligence reports for this area showed no signs of enemy activity, but those reports were several months old. Nothing then did not necessarily imply nothing now, and bandits had been known to live in this area before. More than that, she—or, more accurately, Hinata—had thought Kakashi seemed uncomfortable with how close they were to the border with Rice Field Country, though she didn't know much about that area, as it wasn't one of the five major countries.

Right before Sakura passed the first marker at the edge of the field, she caught a glimpse of something shining in the full moonlight—just the barest flash of reflected light, but it was enough to catch her attention. It was likely nothing, only a drink can or some other bit of trash left behind by one of the farmers, but it was still something out of the ordinary. As she walked over to where she had seen the object, though, she noticed something else out of place.

_Tracks_, the realization struck her. They were light, barely indenting the wet ground, and looked to have been hastily smoothed over as well. Tomorrow, after the farmers in their heavy boots trampled over the area, they would have disappeared completely, and she would never have noticed them in the darkness if not for the glint of metal nearby—which, as she looked closer, did _not_ come from a harmless can or foil wrapping as she had at first assumed. Lying just beside the field marker, near enough that it was probably knocked free of its holster when its owner brushed against the post, was a black-finished kunai. Only a scratch in the matte finish betrayed its presence, and she couldn't help but shudder at what it implied.

More quickly than she had dreamed she was capable of moving, she ran back to the central storehouse to get Kakashi.

- - -

"Wait…so Kakashi-sensei just left us to go chase after whoever made those tracks?" Naruto asked. Desperate to talk to someone, Sakura had woken him and Hinata up immediately after Kakashi left, and now the three genin were squashed together sitting on the bed in the girls' room.

She nodded. "Yeah," she said, unable to keep from frowning at the memory. "He took the kunai with him too, but I got a better look at it before he did, and it wasn't scratched after all. There was some sort of symbol etched onto the blade. I couldn't tell what it was, though."

"So he thinks there are ninja—enemy ninja—nearby?" Hinata asked, sounding worried. "But why would they come here? There's nothing important for them to steal, and nobody important lives here either."

Sakura knew the answer to her friend's question; she _knew_ she did, but she couldn't quite think of it. _It's something about…oh, what's the use of memorizing all that stuff if I can't remember it when I need it?_

"Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, startling her friends so much that they practically jumped off the bed. "Um…sorry," she added, blushing at the reaction she had caused. "I just realized why ninja might have come through here, though. If they're trying to get to Lightning Country without having to go by the main road, there's a small trade route starting a little bit north of here that cuts through the northwest border of Rice Field Country and then along the coast over into Lightning. It's mostly used by merchant caravans to get to some of the northern ports, but this is the wrong season for that, so it would probably be completely deserted now."

"And Kakashi-sensei must be trying to track them down before they cross the border," Hinata said, frowning thoughtfully. "That's why he didn't take us along, then. We're not fast enough to keep up with him yet, if he's going as quickly as he can in order to catch them."

Sakura thought, but did not say, that Kakashi was probably more concerned with their safety than his own speed. If the unknown ninja were from Hidden Cloud, she very much doubted that they would be genin, and perhaps not even chuunin; unlike the Leaf, Cloud had not suffered a massive depopulation of its senior ranks, and so they had chuunin and jounin to spare. A deep-insertion espionage—sabotage? assassination?—mission within Fire Country, still arguably the strongest of the five major countries despite the Leaf ninja not having fully recovered yet from the Nine-Tails' attack a decade ago, would practically necessitate using the best ninja available.

At least, that was how she would look at the situation if she were responsible for planning such a mission. It seemed likely that she was missing something, though, since she wouldn't have thought that elite ninja would be clumsy enough to leave the sort of evidence of their passing that she had discovered earlier that morning. In any event, Kakashi had left them all behind for whatever reason, and he hadn't even said when he thought he might return.

"What are we going to do until he gets back?" Naruto moaned, echoing her own thoughts. "He was just starting to teach us stuff, too. Does this mean we still have to do guard duty if he's still gone tonight?"

"I guess we ought to," Hinata said, though she didn't sound happy about the prospect at all. "Since there are only three of us, we'll have to all stay up the whole night, too. Otherwise one of us would have to be by ourselves."

Sakura shivered, and by the looks on her friends' faces, they didn't find that prospect any more appealing than she did. She had gone without sleep before, and one night wouldn't hurt if it came to that. Kakashi wouldn't be gone much longer than a day or so, as the enemy ninja couldn't have been that far ahead of him. The tracks had been fresh enough that they must have been made at some point between the time Naruto or Hinata checked that field and when she checked it, giving them only a few hours' lead time at best.

"I still need to calm down some," she admitted. "We've got the whole day to practice since Kakashi-sensei isn't here to show us anything new, so I think I'm going to meditate for a while. Then maybe we can spar after lunch?"

Naruto nodded. "Sure," he said. "Hinata-chan, do you want to go work on your ninjutsu for a while?"

"I'd rather work on your taijutsu," Hinata muttered. "Why do I have to be the one getting beaten up today?" She didn't look entirely unhappy, though; Sakura knew that her reluctance to learn ninjutsu was more for show than anything else, as though she felt she had to live up to the Hyuuga ideal of needing no techniques but the jyuuken.

"Come on, let's get out of here so Sakura-chan can meditate," Naruto said, laughing as he grabbed Hinata's hand, pulling her off the bed and out of the room. "We'll be right outside if you need anything!" he called over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

Sakura smiled at her friends' actions before settling into a half-lotus position and closing her eyes. As she slowed her breathing and began the now nearly-automatic process of visualizing the chakra flows in her body, she was annoyed by a twinge of cold from the seal on her right wrist—Naruto's. That had been one aspect of the diagnostic seals she hadn't considered at first; since they had been designed for medical use, they were so sensitive that even minor injuries from sparring could trigger a mild reaction from them, and it had taken her several days to get used to the occasional sensations they produced.

Still, if anything she figured the experience was helpful overall, as learning to ignore distractions was an important part of meditation. Recentering herself, she continued to build her frame of reference, layering the visualized chakra flows one over the other with each flowing into the major and minor tenketsu. Another, stronger chill shot through Naruto's seal after a little while, and the part of her mind not occupied with maintaining the image mentally congratulated Hinata on landing a good hit, though at the same time she began to feel a detached sense of uneasiness. Pushing it aside as best as she could, she focused on her meditation again.

When Hinata's seal suddenly became so cold it felt like an icicle was being hammered through her left wrist, though, her eyes flew open and she flung open her door, racing outside. That couldn't have been produced by a minor sparring accident, she knew; only a critical—perhaps even deadly—wound would cause the seal to react so violently, and she felt as though her heart was stuck in her throat when she pictured Hinata lying on the ground with a broken neck or worse. Just as she reached the hut's front door, a matching frozen spike seemed to pierce her right wrist, and her panic developed into full-blown terror at what that implied.

As she had half-suspected, half-dreaded, Sakura opened the door to a tableau that she knew would haunt her nightmares for years if she survived this day: Hinata and Naruto lying in crumpled, boneless heaps on the grass while a short, black-clad ninja stood close to them holding a kunai streaked with blood and something else. One thought ran through her petrified mind, looping over and over until she felt sure she would scream: this was her fault. She had been the one to find the tracks—a diversion, she now suspected—and if not for that discovery, Kakashi would have been here and her friends would still be safe.

_Why, though?_ she begged to know. _Why go to this much trouble just to kill a team of genin?_ Hinata was the Hyuuga _heir_; killing her was tantamount to a declaration of war against the Hyuuga, and by extension the rest of the clans of the Hidden Leaf. Was she witnessing the start of the next Great Ninja War?

Part of her was appalled that she was able to reduce the lifeless bodies of her friends to pawns in a political maneuver, but it was either that or break down screaming and sobbing, and the part of her that was a ninja of the Leaf refused to give their killer that satisfaction. She would die in the next few moments, she was certain—if he had killed Naruto and Hinata, she could never hope to stand against him—but she would honor them by dying on her feet.

When the enemy ninja spoke, she was astonished. "Why so surprised, little flower?" he asked. "You don't think I would kill such valuable merchandise, do you?" She was unable to see his expression, as his face was covered by a mask similar to Kakashi's, but the oily satisfaction in his voice made her want to vomit—so much so that at first she failed to comprehend his words.

_They're…not dead?_ she thought, a wave of relief sweeping through her so strongly that it almost literally brought her to her knees. As the numbing panic began to recede a bit from her mind, she realized that she was still feeling a throbbing frozen sensation in her wrists coming from the diagnostic seals; if her friends really were dead, she wouldn't feel a thing from them any more. That thought calmed her down enough to begin considering the enemy ninja's words, and the only conclusion she could come up with made her wonder if it might not have been better if he had killed them.

"You're a slaver," she said flatly. Surprisingly, the man shook his head in response.

"Hardly," he added a moment later. "My lord will reward me handsomely for bringing these two to him, though. I'm sure he'll be most interested in experimenting with two of the few byakugan in existence not protected by the infamous branch seal, and I imagine the Cloud would be willing to make a deal to learn anything he discovers. His interest in the boy is more…personal, though the Rock would doubtless pay well for whatever is left of him after my lord is finished."

Sakura found herself too horrified by his words to speak. This man—or his lord—wanted to experiment on Hinata, to cut out her eyes and sell their secrets to the same country that tried to kidnap her when she was barely more than a toddler. Hinata had confessed, once, that she still had nightmares about that incident. And Naruto…the man's intentions for her blond friend were obvious too: torture, and if he survived that, delivery to people who would kill him for the crime of being his father's son.

"Why?" she whispered, once she had regained some sense of equilibrium. "You have to know how the Leaf will respond, so what could you possibly hope to gain?"

The man shrugged. "And who would they blame?" he asked rhetorically, gesturing to his forehead protector, which was made conspicuous by its smooth, unmarked surface. "Finding such…notable young genin here was purest chance, and the Copy-Ninja's departure even more so. The ninja he's chasing have nothing to do with me or my mission here, even if their timing was most helpful."

Sakura's heart sank as she realized he was right. Nobody would be coming to help, and nobody would even know what had happened to them. Judging by his words, he was planning on killing her, and if he destroyed her body afterwards then it would appear as though the three genin had simply vanished.

"What about me?" she asked, hoping that if she could keep him talking long enough, then maybe—just maybe—Kakashi might return. She knew it was a foolish hope, but it was the only one she had.

The enemy ninja laughed. "My lord knows all about you, demon-child," he said. "You would make an excellent bargaining chip for his former associates, but unfortunately for you, he's judged you too dangerous to be allowed anywhere near him."

That was it, then. A slow rage began to build in her, kindled not by the danger to herself—she hadn't expected anything else, especially if he knew about the Nine-Tails—but at the thought of what he wanted to do with her friends. Earlier, she had thought that she would die for them, and now it seemed as though she would have to make good on that promise even if it would make no difference in the end. It should have scared her, she knew, but she found herself unable to feel anything but hatred for the man in front of her.

A crazy, impossible idea came to Sakura as she remembered Naruto's accident with the branch the first time he had tried to tree-hop. Slowly, so as not to give herself away, she began drawing on her chakra. As it flowed out of her reserves and into her feet and legs, she felt a familiar, almost-painful pressure begin to build behind her eyes. Siphoning out more than she had ever dared before, tears of frustration welled in her eyes as she realized that even if she drained herself completely, she wasn't powerful enough to duplicate what he had done.

_I need more!_ she thought desperately. Almost-pain became real as a headache blossomed in her skull, and it throbbed in time with the last few, weak pulses of chakra she was able to draw from herself. It still wasn't enough. Ruthlessly, she pressed herself even harder, but she seemed to have hit a limit that no amount of need alone could allow her to surpass. Refusing to give up, she hurled herself against it one final time—

—and broke through.

_Pain._ If she had hurt before, she was enveloped in purest agony now. Liquid flames burned a path through her body, and her skin felt as though she had been dipped in oil and set alight. Every breath caught fire in her throat and seared her lungs as tears of blazing magma leaked from the corners of her eyes, shut for fear that they would boil from their sockets. Her chakra coils screeched like overstressed harp strings, only a moment away from snapping and being consumed by the fierce, raw power coursing through them. She could not move, could not scream, could not even _think_ through the inferno that burned to ash every impulse as soon as it arose in her mind. She could still hear, though.

"Aww, what's the matter?" came a—familiar? no, but known…and hated? yes, definitely—voice. "Scared to die, little flower? Trust me, your teammates will wish they had been so lucky."

The words meant nothing to her at first, mere scraps of thought and memory to be consumed like tinder by the firestorm within her. Some stubborn fraction of her refused to let them go, though, clinging to their meanings while the words themselves burned away. Over the course of what seemed like endless ages to her tortured mind, memories and instincts began to collect around them, slowly at first, then with greater speed even as the all-consuming flames licked hungrily at the emerging thought-construct.

_Teammates…friends…_ A kaleidoscope of memory-fragments, scorched around the edges, whirled past her mind's eye: Naruto squatting down in front of her and grinning at her, Hinata smiling patiently as the dark-haired girl led her through an intermediate taijutsu form, Naruto insisting that she take the first piece of their shared birthday cake, Hinata holding her as she sobbed out the story of her mother's death—those and what seemed like an infinity of others, not all good, but none that she would be willing to give up. As if in response, the flames drew back even more, and despite the continuing pain so strong it made her wish for death, she found herself able to reason once more…in a way.

The creature in front of her wanted to take her friends away from her—not just that, but take them to be tortured, eventually killed. It _enjoyed_ the thought of them helpless and suffering, and it expected to be rewarded for its vile actions. She would make it scream for that, before she killed it.

And at that thought, Haruno Sakura, vessel of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, opened her crimson eyes.

- - -

Author's Notes: Um...please don't hate me for ending the chapter there? My thanks to all of you who reviewed the previous chapter, and I hope everyone enjoyed this one!


	11. Ten: Threat Deferred

Hinata had just finished warming up and begun sparring lightly against Naruto when she noticed the barest flicker of movement in the corner of her eye. As she was about to activate her byakugan to take a closer look, she felt a sharp pain in her chest and, looking down, saw that she had been hit by a kunai--poisoned, she realized a moment later when she fell heavily to the ground, her muscles limp and completely unresponsive. Her head lolled around until she could see the hut, though Naruto was outside her natural field of vision, but she could hear a thump as his body hit the ground moments after her own. Despite the panic threatening to overcome her mind, she found her training taking hold, and she forced herself to remain calm and consider the situation—until the front door of the hut banged open and Sakura ran out, looking terrified.

_We're not dead!_ she wanted to yell out, as she saw her friend's face turn white with shock. _Run!_ had quickly followed; judging by his choice of poison, the enemy ninja, who had walked over to them and retrieved his kunai before assuming what almost seemed to be a waiting posture, likely intended to take her and Naruto as hostages rather than kill them. Sakura possessed neither a powerful family nor a famous father, though, and so the danger to her was much greater, or so Hinata assumed. Then the man began to speak, and as he detailed his plans for her and Naruto, Hinata found herself overwhelmed by memories.

_Fear, quickly shading into absolute terror as the men dragged her from her room. Wishing she could scream, but the gag shoved roughly into her mouth muffling her panicked cries. She had tried to struggle, but they only laughed off her childish efforts. As she grew more violent, drawing strength from her fear, one of them had commented sharply that her head had to remain intact, but that didn't say anything about the rest of her. Able to understand the implications of that even at her young age, she had stopped fighting them._

_No!_ It wasn't like that any more. She was a ninja of the Leaf now, not a helpless five-year-old girl. She was her father's student and heir, and though she was unable to match her cousin's raw skill or greater experience, she knew that she was not as far below him as he liked to think. While she had no father or uncle to save her this time, some inner core of stubbornness, reinforced by her friendship with Naruto, refused to allow her to break down. She would not meekly submit to her captor this time, and while she was helpless at the moment, her paralysis would have to wear off eventually.

_What did he mean by 'demon-girl'?_ she couldn't help but wonder, refocusing her attention on the confrontation between Sakura and the enemy ninja. She had heard some of the villagers say things of that nature to Sakura before, though they were always quickly hushed up by the people standing near them, and she hadn't understood what they could possibly mean. Her pink-haired friend was about as far from a demon as it was possible to get; she was quiet, studious, and, despite several years' exposure to Naruto and Ino, still quite shy in public. That this man—who most obviously was not from the Hidden Leaf—would call her that name began to set off warning bells in Hinata's mind.

All that was forgotten, though, when she saw Sakura grimly step forward and square off against the enemy ninja. If Hinata had had her voice, she would have begged her friend to run, to at least try to save herself, though the rational part of her knew that Sakura would never do such a thing. Even if it was the only option that made any sense—even if standing her ground meant dying in a fight she could never hope to win—she would never leave her friends behind. Of all of them, she had taken Kakashi's words about ninja who abandoned their teammates closest to her heart, and while at any other time that would have comforted Hinata, here and now she found she couldn't bear the thought of watching as a powerless spectator while her friend died needlessly.

That sickening feeling of helplessness only increased as she saw Sakura's eyes clench tightly shut and her body begin trembling—not in fear, as the enemy ninja seemed to think, but in what Hinata could tell was great pain. If not for his misplaced gloating, she would have assumed it was some genjutsu performed by their attacker. As it was, though, she was as clueless as he was. While the outward symptoms matched what she had heard of extreme chakra coil damage, Sakura simply didn't have enough chakra to stress her system that way; no genin did, not even Naruto or Sasuke.

Then, as Sakura stopped trembling and opened her eyes, Hinata's world seemed to drop out from under her. She _knew_ those eyes, not first-hand, but she had heard her father speak of the blood-red eyes of the Nine-Tailed Fox during lectures on why it was so important that the Hyuuga remain strong. As if in a dream, she silently activated her byakugan and gazed in mute horror at the blazing red chakra aura clinging to the thing that wore the body of one of her closest friends.

_No_, she thought, her mind chasing itself in circles. _No, not Sakura-chan, it can't…_ But her sight could not lie to her; that was _not_ human chakra. Whatever it was, whether the Nine-Tails itself or some other demon, the not-Sakura kept its eyes fixed firmly on the enemy ninja, who no longer seemed like quite so great a threat compared to the thing confronting him. Even the barest glimpse of its eyes woke frightened animal memories in the back of Hinata's mind, instincts screaming to her that she must run and hide—that she was _prey_, and her only chance of surviving the next few moments was to hope that those terrible eyes would never fix their gaze directly on her.

"You will not touch them." The voice was Sakura's, but a low, distant growl seemed to echo around its edges, filling in the spaces between the words with unspoken menace. Behind his mask, the enemy ninja's face paled, and Hinata could see chakra flood his coils as he prepared to fight.

Without warning, he blurred forward almost too quickly to follow—not at the demon in Sakura's form, as Hinata had expected, but at Naruto and her. She barely had time to realize what was happening, though, before the Sakura-thing made a strange hooking gesture with its left hand. As if summoned by the motion, flaming streamers of chakra split off from its aura, curving around the ninja and impaling themselves through him, one through each of his tenketsu.

Hinata watched in horrified fascination as the demonic chakra began spreading through the man's body, burning away his own chakra and leaving his coils in shattered ruins. He began jerking spasmodically, though somehow the chakra spears held him pinioned in place, and she could see blood begin to seep from the corners of his eyes.

"You _will not_ touch them," the Sakura-thing repeated, and this time the menacing growl laced through its voice was so strong that Hinata was sure her heart had stopped for a moment out of sheer fright. It stepped forward, unconscious grace and power evident in each stride, until it was barely a foot away from the enemy ninja, who by now was audibly groaning in pain. Its aura began to thicken around its right hand, spreading out into long, thin ribbons of chakra so concentrated that they were visible even to her normal eyesight as wavering heat-distortions in the air.

_Claws_, she realized a moment later. _It's given itself claws made of chakra._ And, as she came to that realization, Hinata desperately wished she could close her eyes—for she was sure she didn't want to see whatever it would do next. With a lashing gesture that she could only track by the trails the demon's chakra left in her byakugan-enhanced vision, it swept its hand forward, and the left side of the enemy ninja's chest all but exploded in a shower of blood and bone fragments and other things that made Hinata sick even to think about.

Feeling bile rise in the back of her throat and desperately hoping she could manage to keep from vomiting, she forced herself to focus past the man's broken corpse and look at the creature that had once been her friend. Blood and other less wholesome substances spattered the front of its clothing, though its skin was disturbingly clean, and Hinata felt terror seize her mind again as its eyes briefly focused on her before glancing away. Perhaps most frighteningly, its face was locked in a neutral expression, as though the fact that it had just killed meant less than nothing to it.

Yet, beneath the clinging layer of bloody red chakra surrounding it, she could see glimmers of Sakura's own cool, pleasant chakra signature, and she dared to hope that her friend was not completely lost. It began to walk forward again, this time almost tentatively compared to its previous movements, and with each step the demonic chakra aura seemed to flicker and fade just a little.

Finally, when it was standing nearly on top of Hinata, she heard it give a low, pained moan. As she watched helplessly, she saw its eyes—now somehow returned to the clear jade color they had always been before this day—roll back in their sockets, and she collapsed to the blood-soaked ground like a dying flower. Hinata had no time to consider the implications of this, though, as she felt the world begin to fade around her, and she gladly followed her friend into unconsciousness.

- - -

Sakura's stomach roiled as she leaned against the cool stone wall. She had already thrown up once, and now she fought to control her nausea at what she had just done—never mind that at the time she had felt like a passenger in her own body. The killing blow she had struck replayed itself over and over in her mind, and what scared her more than anything now was how casually she had delivered it, as though she had been swatting a fly rather than eviscerating another human being. At the same time, though, she found herself unable to regret his death; against all her instincts, she had even left him the option of escape, yet he had moved to attack her helpless friends instead.

Gradually, as her thoughts cleared, she began to wonder where she was; all of the buildings in the farming community were made of wood, and they were smaller than the ones surrounding her. Looking around, she noticed to her confusion that she was back home, though she had no idea how she had gotten there. Perhaps she had fallen unconscious after the fight, but she couldn't think of any injury severe enough to keep her that way for at least three days that would still have left her in good enough condition to be moved such a long distance.

More than that, she couldn't think of any reason she would simply have been left here, of all places, directly in front of the orphanage where she had lived until she was nearly six years old. All her friends knew how much she had hated the place, and surely Naruto and Hinata wouldn't have just dumped her on the pavement and left.

_Unless they saw_, some dark corner of her mind whispered to her. _Unless they know what you really are, now._ She couldn't even say she would blame them, not after what she had done. Yes, she had done it to save them, but she had killed as brutally as anything she had heard of in the stories of the Nine-Tails itself. If she were in her friends' positions, she might very well have left herself for dead on the sidewalk as well. Helpless tears beginning to streak her face as she stumbled forward, away from the wall's solid support, she walked on unsteady legs into the hell that had been her home for the earliest years of her life. It was no more than she deserved, after all.

As she moved numbly through rooms and hallways that seemed so much smaller and more cramped than in her memories—_of course_, she realized, _I've grown taller since I was here­­_—she wondered why the building appeared to be deserted. Normally, there would have been children playing in the corridors or eating their meals, but now the only sound to break the silence was the echo of her own footsteps. Once or twice, she thought she caught glimpses of a tiny pink-haired girl in ragged clothes, hiding in corners and shadows, but she dismissed the sightings as tricks of the light and her own tear-blurred vision.

Though she had initially been content to wander aimlessly through the building, at some point she realized she was walking towards a specific room, one she never wanted to see again. The more she tried to avoid it, though, the closer to it she drew, stepping through corridors that looped around in an impossible fashion and doorways that led to places they never had in reality. Finally, after some time—a few minutes? an hour? Sakura had no idea—she stood in front of a simple wooden door with a sign that still haunted her nightmares from time to time: Room 14—Okamoto Kairi and Haruno. Her old bedroom.

She saw her hand come up as though it moved of its own volition, pushing open the door to reveal a tiny room with a dusty wooden floor and stained walls that might once have been white. A lamp stood in one corner, by the head of a wooden bed, and a colorfully striped rug covered the floor next to it. On the other side of the room, as far from the bed as it was possible to get, a thin, flat futon lay on the floor. In place of a pillow, a few clothes, patched almost to the point of being unrecognizable as such, sat in a neatly-folded pile on one end of the futon. A dressing table and free-standing wardrobe filled most of the remaining space in the room, though Sakura had never been allowed to touch anything in either.

And, sitting on the edge of the bed, her legs swinging idly back and forth, was…herself? Sakura blinked a few times, jarred out of her dreamlike state by the sight; she had half-expected to see Kairi here, but instead, she could have been looking into a mirror—if she had somehow reverted to the age she had been when she lived in this room. Only the younger girl's eyes, a deep red color with slitted black pupils, marked her as different from a nearly six-year-old Sakura.

"Welcome," the girl said in Sakura's high, clear voice, smiling so coldly that any sincerity in the greeting was lost at once. "I must say, you haven't led a very pleasant life, have you?"

Mutely, Sakura shook her head. She _knew_ who—or, more accurately, what—she was speaking to now, and she was sure she had never been so frightened before in her life, not even when she had seen what she thought were the corpses of her friends lying on the ground in front of her. Somehow, she had broken her seal, and now the Nine-Tails was loose within her mind.

"Not exactly," it said, answering Sakura's unspoken question. "Think of your seal as a locked door. The satellite seals form the lock, and the primary seal is the door itself. What you've done is like unlocking the door, allowing me to step out a little ways. Unfortunately, the door 'wants' to stay shut and locked, and even I cannot keep it open for very long."

"Oh." Sakura felt as though her mind was spinning in circles. Foremost among her thoughts was relief that she hadn't let the demon free after all, assuming it was telling the truth. She also felt a bit confused, though; how did it know so much about fuuinjutsu, and why was it even telling her this? Shouldn't it want to keep her as frightened as possible?

The Nine-Tails shrugged, an oddly sinuous gesture that looked out of place on its girlish body. "Why bother?" it asked. "No matter how much I terrify you, it won't keep me free of my prison any longer, and we have things to discuss. As for your other question, I know everything you do. If you had stopped to think about it rather than panicking like any other human, you would have realized the same thing."

Flushing at the insult, Sakura frowned, then nodded. Demon though it might be, the Nine-Tails was telling the truth in this case, based on what she had learned about her seal so far—not much, as the Hokage hadn't yet allowed her to read the scroll detailing its exact composition and construction, but enough to know that what it had said about the function of the primary and satellite seals was correct. That raised another question, though. If it could read her mind, then what could it want to discuss with her?

"Not so much discuss with you as inform you of," the demon said, again smiling its cold smile, and this time its eyes seemed almost to glow with an inner light. "You drew on my power today, to save the ones you call your friends. By 'opening the door' to me, though, so to speak, you have allowed me access to your mind—obviously, or we wouldn't be having this conversation.

"Right now, I could burn your mind and soul to ash if I wished, leaving your body a helpless shell alive only in the most technical sense. If you ever try to use my power again, I will do just that, even though it might well mean my own death. I may be a prisoner, but I will _not_ allow myself to be used. Do you understand?"

Unable to keep herself from shivering beneath its awful stare, Sakura nodded once, jerkily. "I…I understand," she whispered, then, unable to help herself, asked, "But…why not now?"

The thing that looked so much like her tilted its head to one side, as though in thought, then grinned in such a way as to display far more teeth than Sakura had ever suspected she possessed. "I have lived a long time," it said. "Longer than you can imagine. Your lifespan is as nothing to me, yet I find myself with the knowledge that I will die when you do—and I will welcome it as a release from the prison in which I have been sealed, though once I feared dying more than anything else. The one who sealed me here has taught me that there are things worse than death, and now I wish to pass on that lesson.

"One day, you will find yourself in a situation much like the one you encountered today. It is inevitable, given your…occupation. When that time comes, you will be faced with the knowledge that you can save your friends if only you draw upon my power, but by doing so you will not merely die but forfeit your soul as well. The pain you experience in that moment of indecision will be far worse than any quick death I could mete out to you now, and in that I will have my repayment in full for being forced to endure this imprisonment."

With a mocking half-bow, the Nine-Tails stood up and, closing its eyes, faded away like a shadow in the morning light.

- - -

_Finally_, Kakashi thought, watching as the girl on the bed in front of him ceased her restless stirring and seemed to relax into a more peaceful slumber. He had returned to the hut where his team was staying after losing the trail made by the foreign ninja only a few hours into the chase. Even Pakkun had been unable to pick up their scent, and so, reluctantly, he had abandoned his efforts.

What he had found when he returned, though, made him wonder how anything could have gone so spectacularly wrong in such little time. All three of his genin had been unconscious, with two of them also affected by a poison he was able to identify as a paralytic neurotoxin made from the venom of a rare snake. Lying nearby had been the savagely mauled remains of an unknown ninja, and when Kakashi saw the poison-coated kunai still gripped in the man's right hand, it had not been difficult to figure out what had happened.

After unsuccessfully searching the dead ninja's body for any type of identification, he had moved his genin into the hut and, separating Sakura from the other two, settled back to wait for them to wake up. At first, he had seriously considered killing the pink-haired girl before she could regain consciousness, but he had changed his mind upon considering what he had seen of the situation outside. Even if she had somehow tapped into the Nine-Tails' power, as seemed likely from the nature of the unknown ninja's wounds, it was clear from the positioning of the bodies that she had been protecting her friends—and as they had both been unharmed when the Nine-Tails itself would just as soon have killed them as their attacker, Kakashi could only conclude that Sakura had been able to control the demon.

Just to be safe, though, he had checked her eyes—perhaps the most obvious sign of possession, whether by a demon or any other type of spirit—and found them to be as human as ever. Whatever she had done to herself, it was gone now. Much to his consternation, she had begun thrashing around in her sleep not long after he put her in her bed, muttering incoherently as though arguing with someone. Not wanting her to harm herself involuntarily, he had stayed with her, part of him wondering at the change in his attitude from the time he had first met her.

"Is…is she going to be okay, Kakashi-sensei?" The quiet voice of his other female genin caused him to turn around, and he saw her and Naruto both peering around the doorframe, worry evident on their faces. Good; now that they were awake, he could find out exactly what had happened to them.

"She'll be fine," he said, hoping it was the truth. Just because the Nine-Tails' influence appeared to have faded from Sakura didn't mean that the experience had left her unharmed. "Now, I believe we need to talk."

Both genin nodded and followed him from the bedroom to the single larger room they used as a kitchen and dining area. Sitting down across from them, he could tell by their pale complexions and sluggish movement that the poison hadn't fully flushed itself out of their systems yet. At least it was one that would wear off relatively quickly, as he had brought only a basic medical kit with him for this mission, one which notably did not include any types of antidotes.

Hinata began to speak without having to be prompted, with Naruto interrupting every so often to fill in information she had either not noticed or left out, and Kakashi grew more concerned with every sentence she spoke. Not only had he failed to notice not one, but two independently operating foreign ninja in the immediate area, it seemed clear that the one who attacked the genin had been working for Orochimaru of all people. That in itself was disturbing enough, but his plans for Hinata and Naruto were even more so—not only the plans themselves, but also the implication that the snake sannin was confident enough of his position to risk a conflict with the Hidden Leaf if his actions were discovered.

To his relief, though, the two genin's account of Sakura's actions confirmed his earlier suppositions that she had been able to control herself to at least some extent. That she had actively moved to defend her friends proved that, as did the fact that she had only attacked in response to the enemy ninja's own aggression. Now he needed to make sure Naruto and Hinata understood that, as he could tell that both of them had recognized what had happened to her and were torn between concern for their friend and fear of the demon that had nearly destroyed their home. Naruto, especially, seemed worried, something for which Kakashi couldn't blame the boy.

"What I'm about to tell you is something you cannot repeat to _anyone_," he said after several long moments of silence. "This information is protected by law, and the penalty for breaking it is death—and yes, that sentence has been carried out in the past. Is this clear?"

Now visibly frightened, the two genin nodded in unison, causing Kakashi to sigh. Technically, he shouldn't even be telling them this now, but they deserved to know. It wasn't like the law had had its desired effect in the first place, and he wondered why the Hokage hadn't abolished it years ago when that became clear. If nothing else, doing so might have forced people to admit that they hated the girl for something that had been done to her, rather than something she herself had done. He doubted it would have made a difference—he was honest enough to admit that it wouldn't have in his case—but it would have been something, at least.

_Done is done_, he told himself, shaking his head. He couldn't change what he had done or thought in the past, but hopefully he could ensure that at least two people would not turn their backs on their friend.

"You know about the Nine-Tails' attack nearly thirteen years ago," he began. "The histories record that the Fourth Hokage sacrificed his own life in order to deal a death blow to it, but, as you must have realized after what happened this morning, those histories have been deliberately falsified. Instead, the Fourth—my own jounin-sensei, though I and my teammate weren't with him at the time—performed a ritual technique that required the sacrifice of his own life. In exchange, the Nine-Tails was sealed away in the body of a newborn girl, its life bound to her own.

"According to the Third Hokage, who assisted him in that ritual, his last wish was that the girl be honored as a hero of the village. For all of his intelligence and fighting skill, he was idealistic to the point of naiveté, and, as Sakura herself has no doubt told you, that is hardly what happened. The Third was afraid she might actually be killed, and so he forced the passage of a law forbidding anyone to speak of what happened to the Nine-Tails, in the hope that it would be forgotten and she would be allowed to grow up normally."

Hinata's eyes were threatening to brim over with tears, and she shook her head as though she wished she could disbelieve what he was saying. "So…her mother…" she whispered, so softly that he nearly failed to hear her. "That's why…oh, gods. Does she know about this?"

"I don't know," Kakashi answered her honestly, though he was unsure whether she had actually intended the question for him. "She shouldn't—the law was extremely strict on that point—but given that she has been studying fuuinjutsu, of all things, with the Third himself, she might. You'll have to ask her that."

Concerned at Naruto's silence, Kakashi looked over at him, then wished he hadn't. The normally cheerful genin seemed torn between anger and disgust, and Kakashi subtly readied himself to stop him if he decided to try anything drastic. That fear proved unfounded, though, when he spoke a moment later.

"So my father sealed the most horrible demon ever encountered inside a baby girl, and people call him a hero for it? And they hate _her_?" The blond boy's voice was getting louder with ever sentence, and Kakashi winced as he realized at whom Naruto's anger was directed. "Did you know that the first thing she remembers anyone ever saying to her was 'I hope you die in a gutter'? Or that her roommate at the orphanage tried to kill her, and that's why she's had to live in a dump of an apartment all by herself since she was six years old?"

_Of course I know—maybe not everything, but enough,_ Kakashi thought, watching as Hinata pulled gently on Naruto's arm, shooting a significant glance at the closed door into the room where Sakura was sleeping.

The boy frowned, but nodded in acquiescence, and continued in a softer voice, "And that law…maybe they were just trying to protect her, but it sounds to me like they were ashamed of her, or maybe of my father—like they wanted to try to forget what he did to her. It's _wrong_."

"Yes, it is," Kakashi admitted. "Don't be too harsh on your father, though. The Nine-Tails had wiped out nearly eighty percent of the Leaf ANBU and upper-level jounin by the time he performed the sealing ritual, and it wasn't going to stop with them. If he hadn't done what he did, there wouldn't be a Hidden Leaf today. And, don't forget that he sacrificed his own life as well."

Grudgingly, Naruto nodded, though judging by the expression on his face, he still wanted to argue some more. Kakashi hadn't expected anything else; it was hard to remember sometimes that his genin were not just young but had grown up in a time of peace, and despite their training, they didn't really have any concept of the kinds of sacrifices that were made during a war. It was not an innocence he had ever possessed, at least not that he could remember, and today had gone a long way towards disillusioning them. Not only had they seen their first death, they had found out that they had been systematically lied to about the most important event in recent village history, one in which Naruto's own father had been instrumental.

"What about my mother?" Naruto asked suddenly, and for a moment Kakashi was confused about what he meant. "She said something to me about a debt that my family owes Sakura. Is that what she was talking about?"

Kakashi felt himself flinch visibly, and he cursed his momentary lapse in self-control. He had hoped not to have to talk about his own role in certain matters, even though he was sure Yukie would inform her son of everything when he returned home. He knew that what he was about to say would likely cause the boy to hate him, and he found that that thought bothered him more than he cared to admit. He had been annoyed at first that he would actually have to teach a genin team for once, but all three of them had grown on him over the past several weeks, and losing the respect of his own jounin-sensei's son was an unpleasant prospect.

As if she sensed that something unpleasant was about to happen, Hinata quietly stood up. "I don't think this is something I need to know about," she said, resting her hand briefly on Naruto's shoulder before turning away. "I'm going to check on Sakura." When she had gone into the bedroom, Naruto fixed his gaze on Kakashi, still clearly angry but curious as well.

"I told you that the Third forced the council to make the law forbidding people to talk about the Nine-Tails," Kakashi finally said, considering his words carefully. "It would be more accurate to say that he made a deal with them. As part of that deal, if anything were to happen to Sakura's mother, she would be made a ward of the village. That is the reason she ended up in an orphanage after her mother's death, rather than with the Hokage.

"When the orphanage proved…unsafe for her, your mother petitioned to be granted custody of her. The Hokage argued in her favor, but it was a civilian matter, so the village council had the ultimate authority. Due in part to testimony from a number of high-ranking ninja, all of them survivors of the fight against the Nine-Tails, her request was denied. That, I believe, is the debt your mother mentioned—not only that your father used Sakura to seal away the Nine-Tails, but also that she was forced to grow up alone rather than as part of your own family."

"She would have been my sister?" Naruto murmured, his voice filled with some emotion Kakashi could not identify, as he glanced briefly at the door leading to Sakura's bedroom. "There's something else you're not telling me," he said, and Kakashi marveled at the resemblance to his father at that moment.

"I was one of the ninja who argued against her," he admitted, "and as your father's only surviving student, my opinion carried a great deal of weight with the council." Naruto's face went white, and for a long moment the two simply looked at each other. Then, taking care to look anywhere but at Kakashi, Naruto nodded and stood up, the scraping of his chair against the floor seeming terribly loud.

"Thank you for telling me the truth," he said, his voice every bit as cold as his mother's had once been. With that, he disappeared after Hinata into Sakura's bedroom, leaving Kakashi to wonder at how choices made so long ago could have such unexpected consequences.

- - -

_Mmm…warm_, Sakura thought, burrowing deeper into her covers and pulling her pillow closer to her body. Gradually, the realization that her pillow was quite a bit larger than it should be—not to mention that a strange buzzing noise seemed to be emanating from her comforter—filtered through her sleep-muddled mind, and she reluctantly blinked open her eyes.

"Ack!" she yelped, upon finding that the 'pillow' she had been cuddling was in fact a certain Hyuuga heir and, furthermore, that her third teammate was slumped over half on top of her and half about to fall off of the chair he had drawn up next to her bed, his snoring causing the buzzing she had heard. The sudden noise and movement as she reflexively backed away from them were apparently enough to wake them up, and, upon realizing their respective positions, they both jumped back from her. Part of Sakura mourned the loss of the warmth she had been enjoying, while part of her was mortified by the picture they must have presented—an opinion apparently shared by her friends, judging by the matching scarlet blushes on their faces.

"Um…good morning?" Sakura finally managed to get out, after what seemed like an eternity of embarrassed silence.

Naruto laughed, a bit nervously, Sakura thought. "I guess we fell asleep, huh?" he said, appearing to find something fascinating about his feet at the moment.

"We were worried about you," Hinata said quietly, and Sakura noticed the telltale signs that she had been crying recently. "Kakashi-sensei said you would be okay, but…do you remember what happened yesterday?"

_Desperation/agony/fury/blood/loneliness/terror/surprise._ Sakura's peaceful mood shattered under the onslaught of memories, and, not trusting herself to speak, she simply nodded. Unable to repress a convulsive shudder at what she had done, she glanced down at her hands as though expecting to find them stained with blood. Her conversation with the Nine-Tails, she put out of her mind as best as she could; she _never_ wanted to think about that again.

"Then…do you know about…it?" Naruto asked tentatively, looking as though he wished he could be anywhere else at the moment.

Again, Sakura nodded. "Since I was eight," she murmured, and this time it was her turn to cast her eyes downward. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I—"

"Couldn't," Naruto finished for her. "We know. Kakashi told us about the law, and about what really happened to the Nine-Tails."

That hadn't been what Sakura was going to say. Truthfully, the existence of the law hadn't even entered her mind as a reason not to tell her friends the truth about her, at least not before she became the Hokage's apprentice; she had been afraid—no more and no less. Judging by their expressions, though, she had had nothing to fear, and she felt tears begin to cloud her vision at that realization.

"It doesn't matter what my father did to you," Naruto said, now staring directly into her eyes. "You're still Sakura—our friend—and you saved us yesterday."

Now Sakura began to cry in earnest, fat tears rolling down her cheeks as the utter sincerity in his voice struck her. Beside him, Hinata simply nodded before leaning forward and hugging her tightly, and, after a moment's hesitation, Naruto joined them as well.

"I was scared when I saw your chakra change," Hinata admitted. "And your eyes…" Sakura could feel her shiver as she trailed off, but she continued, "You're still you, though, and somehow I know you would never hurt us."

At that moment, Sakura knew the Nine-Tails had been utterly wrong. If it ever came down to a question of letting her friends die or allowing the demon within her to tear apart her soul in exchange for the power to save them, she wouldn't have to hesitate for even an instant before making her decision. She would do anything for them, anything at all for the ones who trusted her when she wasn't even sure she trusted herself.

- - -

Author's Notes: Well, judging by the reviews for last chapter, at least it seems people are still enjoying this little project of mine. Thank you all very much for the kind words; they're very appreciated, as is any criticism people may have to offer. In response to one question I received, no, I don't plan to make a habit of ending chapters with cliffhangers (as I would hope would be evident by the fact that I've had a total of one in the past ten chapters); as a dramatic device, I think they can be very useful at times, but when overused they lose their impact. Will there be more? Probably. Will there be _many_ more? Not according to my story outline.

As for this chapter, I hope the new plot threads and character interactions are proving interesting. When originally plotting out this story, I toyed with the idea of making Naruto and, to a lesser extent Hinata, less trusting of Sakura for a while, but I just couldn't justify it based on the way I had established their characters already. So, you get the Naruto/Kakashi tension instead, which ends up working much better anyways, in my own not entirely humble opinion--plus some other things which will be coming up. Rest assured, the repercussions of the events in the past few chapters are far from over. In any event, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and, as always, thank you for reading!


	12. Eleven: Returning Home

Naruto stared fixedly at a knot in the wooden surface of the table around which he, Hinata, and Kakashi were sitting. Sakura was in her room meditating, something he had noticed she had been doing much more over the last few days than she had before _that_ day. She had also been quieter than usual since then, and while she was never the most sociable person—he barely resisted the urge to glare at Kakashi as he thought of the reasons for that—she had been spending even more time on her own. It wasn't enough to make him worry yet, but he and Hinata had both decided to start keeping a closer eye on her.

"What did you want to talk to us about, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. It was just as well that she had said something, Naruto thought; he had spoken to Kakashi as little as possible recently, and he had a hard time controlling his temper when he was forced to do so.

"I'm sure I don't need to remind you of what happened four days ago," Kakashi said, causing Naruto's frown to grow even more pronounced.

_Oh, you mean when Sakura had to save us because you weren't there to do your duty?_ he wanted to say. Only a light, warning pressure on his forearm stopped him from actually speaking the words, and he glanced down to see Hinata's hand on his arm. Sighing to himself, he simply nodded.

"There are reasons why guard missions that are believed to have a high likelihood of requiring deadly force to complete, as well as all assassination missions, are set at a minimum of B-rank," the older ninja continued. "It isn't because they are difficult, necessarily. Some assassination missions are no harder than low C-rank, and when I was a genin, that's how they would have been classified. After the last war, though, the mission structure was changed back to the earlier system so genin would—hopefully—not be put in situations where they would be expected to kill anyone."

Growing interested in spite of himself, Naruto nodded. His mother had said much the same thing when he asked what the various ranks of missions were like. Supposedly, it was because studies done during the war, when genin had routinely been sent on less difficult assassination and sabotage missions in order to free up more experienced ninja for harder missions, had shown a vast increase in the number of ninja forced into early retirement for psychological reasons. When he remembered what it had been like even to watch someone be killed so violently, he thought he could understand why.

"The problem with the current system," Kakashi said, "is that sometimes things do go wrong, and sometimes genin are forced to kill. Without any sort of training on how to deal with that, the aftereffects can be…unpleasant. In Sakura's case, perhaps even more so, given the way things happened."

_So, it's not just because she killed someone, it's because she used the…demon to do it_, Naruto mentally translated, feeling himself wince. From the few talks he and Hinata had had with her since then, he suspected she was still not telling them something about what had happened. After learning the last big secret she had been keeping, though, he had no intention of pressing her on the subject—not that that stopped him from being a little curious about it.

"What can we do?" he asked reluctantly, not wanting to talk to Kakashi, but recognizing that the jounin had much more experience in this sort of thing.

Kakashi simply shook his head. "This isn't a new technique to learn," he said. "People's minds don't come with clear instructions attached. Remember, she did what she did for the two of you, and perhaps the best thing you can do is just to be there to remind her of that reason. Give her something positive to think about."

_Like we wouldn't?_ Naruto thought, the response only increasing his bitterness towards his jounin-sensei. _We're not like you. We won't abandon her because of something she can't help, especially when it's the only reason we're still alive._

"We'll always be there for her," Hinata replied after several moments' silence, the barely-hidden steel in her quiet tone letting him know that while she might remain outwardly polite towards Kakashi, she shared at least some of his opinions of the man. The two of them had discussed whether or not to let Sakura know what Kakashi had told Naruto as well, but in the end, they had been unable to bring themselves to do so; their pink-haired friend seemed to be getting on fairly well with him recently, and they didn't want to do anything that might turn her away from one of the very few adult ninja who treated her decently.

The thought briefly crossed Naruto's mind that perhaps the fact that Kakashi was treating Sakura well showed that he was trying to make up for what he had done in the past, and he sighed. He felt so angry when he thought of some of the things Sakura had told him about her life before she started at the ninja academy, as well as some of the things she _still_ had to put up with even now, even though she never really seemed to get upset about it—or perhaps especially because of that fact. Now that he had found out about one of the people responsible for what she had gone through, he couldn't just let it go, even if he wasn't the one who had been wronged.

What he really wanted, more than anything, was to talk with his mother about the whole situation. She would be able to tell him more about what had happened, and maybe she would even have some idea of what he could do about Kakashi. Most of all, he wanted to ask her about his father, because finding out that the man whose memory he had always looked up to had been responsible for hurting Sakura—even if he could understand the reason, intellectually—had deeply shaken him.

Shaking his head, he realized that Kakashi had left at some point while he had been thinking, and Hinata was the only one sitting at the table with him now. She gave him a concerned look, to which he responded with a brief smile, and the two of them stood up to go fetch Sakura for some sparring practice outside. The mission would be over in two days, but for now he wanted to lose himself in training and not have to worry about everything that had happened during the past two weeks or everything that they would have to deal with once they returned to the village.

- - -

_Home again_, Sakura thought tiredly as the great gates of the Village of the Hidden Leaf came into view at last, somewhat surprised to find that she really was glad to be back. At the moment, all she wanted to do was sleep; Kakashi had set an exhaustingly quick pace on the return journey, and Team Seven had completed the trip that had taken them three days before in just over a day and a half. Even Naruto looked tired, and she had heard him mumbling about his wonderful, comfortable bed nearly continuously for the past half hour, despite the fact that it was barely mid-afternoon.

"I know you all want to get some food and rest," Kakashi said as they passed through the opened gate, the chuunin on guard duty nodding to them in welcome, "but we need to go see the Hokage first. I sent a message to him with some basic information about what happened during the mission, but he's going to want to talk to each of us to get more details."

Sakura noticed Naruto shoot a mutinous glare at their jounin-sensei, and she sighed. He, and even Hinata to a lesser extent, had been doing that ever since she had woken up after the attack, and she wanted to know what was going on. It could just have been the fact that Kakashi was gone when the enemy ninja attacked, but she didn't think so; if anything, she would have said it had something to do with herself, but she couldn't think of any reason why that might be. Kakashi had been quite helpful over the past several days, and under his instruction she was finally making noticeable progress in her taijutsu skills.

Despite that, she couldn't help but glare at him a little bit herself as they walked towards the Hokage's tower. If Naruto was tired and Hinata exhausted, she felt like she was about to collapse at any moment, only sheer willpower keeping her upright and moving forward. Her chakra coils still weren't completely healed from having the Nine-Tails' chakra flow through them, and the constant strain of traveling so quickly certainly hadn't helped the healing process at all. She could understand Kakashi's reasoning for why he wanted to get back to the village so quickly in order to report—the presence of foreign ninja in Fire Country could be a sign of a serious threat, after all—but surely they had time to be able to sleep for at least a little while before meeting the Hokage.

Several minutes later, Sakura stood with her teammates in the Hokage's outer office, waiting for the door guards to announce their arrival. She very much hoped that he wasn't busy with someone else, because at the moment the only things keeping her from falling asleep standing up were her sore muscles and aching head. The sooner they met with him, the sooner she could get back to her apartment, take some painkillers, and flop onto her bed for a nice, long, hopefully nightmare-free nap. A warm bath would be nice too, but she was somewhat afraid she might fall asleep in it and drown.

"You may enter," the chuunin on the right side of the door finally said after an interminable wait, causing all of them—even Kakashi—to perk up slightly. Idly, Sakura wondered how the chuunin guards ever knew that the Hokage was ready to see someone, but she found she was too tired even to be curious. As they walked into the inner office, she was surprised to see that the Hokage appeared nearly as tired as she felt, and she wondered what could possibly have happened in the few weeks since she had last seen him that would make him look like that.

"Please, sit down," he said, gesturing to a row of chairs in front of his desk—not the most comfortable ones, Sakura was glad to see, as she was sure she would have fallen asleep in one of those.

_Then again, maybe not_, she thought uneasily, as he turned a piercing gaze onto her. He didn't look upset, precisely, but neither could she tell what he was thinking. It made sense, though, she supposed; this was official business, so she couldn't expect him to act any differently towards her than he would have towards any other ninja in her situation.

After they had all seated themselves, the Hokage turned to Kakashi. "Now, Kakashi," he said, "I will expect a full report on the ninja you followed to the border, but that can wait until later. For now, I wish to hear your genin's accounts of what occurred while you were away. Naruto, please begin, and leave nothing out regardless of how trivial it may seem."

Some corner of Sakura's mind was paying attention as Naruto began to speak, but she was more concerned with what she would say when it was her turn. She hadn't told anyone, not even Hinata or Naruto, about meeting with the Nine-Tails in her dream—if it had been only a dream, which part of her doubted—but she didn't think she could bring herself to hide anything from the Hokage. She desperately did not want her friends to hear what it had said to her, though.

To her relief, when Hinata finished retelling her version of events—considerably more detailed that Naruto's, thanks to the unique perspective granted by her byakugan—the Hokage clapped his hands together sharply and said, "Thank you both. Unfortunately, I must speak with Sakura in private now, so you are dismissed. I trust Kakashi has informed you of the penalty should you speak of what you have learned to anyone who does not already know."

Naruto and Hinata nodded, though they seemed unfazed by the warning—probably because they were too tired to care at the moment, Sakura thought, watching enviously as they left along with Kakashi. It was only once they were out of sight that she realized she would rather have had them there for support, even if she was afraid of what they might think once they heard everything. She didn't _want_ to remember what had happened, though she knew she would never be able to forget it.

"Now, Sakura-chan," the Hokage said, much more gently than she had expected, "I will need you to tell me what you remember, but not just yet. Given what happened to you, I think I should show you something first. Hopefully it will bring you some comfort."

_Huh?_ Sakura's fatigue-fogged mind tried to wrap itself around the Hokage's words, but all she could make out was that he wasn't going to make her tell her side of the story yet. She didn't know what could possibly make her feel better about what had happened, though.

"Here, look at the last page of this scroll," the Hokage's voice sounded from beside her, and she started in surprise as the largest scroll she had ever seen was dropped into her arms. Wobbling a little as she regained her balance, she spread the scroll out over a nearby table and flipped quickly to the back, absently noting what looked like some very unusual—and very dangerous, if she wasn't mistaken—techniques written on the pages she skipped. When she reached the last page, though, she felt herself physically flinch backwards as she drew in a sharp breath.

"The Shiki Fuujin!" she exclaimed, once she had regained some measure of composure. "This is…this is everything about it. How it was created, how to perform the sealing technique…even how to break it. But why are you showing this to me now?" The massive page was covered with esoteric diagrams, numerological equations, and scribbled notes, all of which led inexorably to a larger than life depiction of the very seal inscribed upon her abdomen. For a moment, she could scarcely believe what she was seeing, and she looked up at her teacher with imploring eyes.

The Hokage smiled and rested one hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "Because you are ready to see it," he said. "Truthfully, in knowledge alone you have been ready for quite some time, but that by itself is a poor indication of worth. Another student of mine, the master of the man you were forced to kill, taught me that bitter lesson. After hearing what your teammates had to say today, though, I have no doubt that your heart is a fitting match for your mind."

Sakura had no idea what she could possibly say to that. Her teacher, a man she respected more than anyone else in the world, had essentially told her he trusted her with the most dangerous secret in the entire village. It was not an honor of which she felt worthy; she could still feel the spray of blood from a mangled body that had once been a living person, could still hear the man's agonized moans as she forced tainted chakra into his body and burned him alive from the inside out. Worse still was knowing that she would do it again. How could someone like her possibly be worthy of so much trust?

In her tiredness, she must have spoken aloud, for the Hokage turned her to face him and, lifting her chin up, stared into her eyes. "Killing is never easy," he told her quietly. "Nor should it be, even in our line of work. There is no better reason to do so, though, than to save the life of a friend. You have nothing at all to be ashamed of."

Kakashi had tried to tell her the same thing, but neither of them understood. She wasn't bothered so much by the fact that she had killed someone as the manner in which she had done so. The sheer savagery with which she had killed the enemy ninja frightened her, but more than that, her nightmares were filled with scenarios in which she hadn't been able to stop with just him. Nearly every night, it seemed she found herself faced with the broken, bleeding corpses of her friends, sacrifices to the demon within her.

"Perhaps even more importantly," the Hokage continued, "you proved without a doubt that _you_ are the one in control of your actions. The Nine-Tails cannot use you, and even if nobody else in the village ever accepts that fact, you should know that I do. Allowing you to study this—" he gestured to the open scroll— "is the best way I can think of to prove it to you."

_Maybe he does understand after all._ The thought ran through Sakura's mind, but she was reaching the limit of what she could process after such an exhausting journey, and she simply couldn't seem to find the words necessary to thank him sufficiently. Instead, almost before she realized what she was doing, she reached forward and hugged him as hard as she could, hoping that he would understand what she was unable to say aloud.

"Go get some rest, Sakura-chan," she heard him say, a curious note in his voice, as he returned her embrace after a moment. "We can discuss what happened to you during your lesson tomorrow, since I think you are far too tired right now to be able to provide the amount of detail I will need to know."

Releasing him, Sakura stepped back and bowed deeply. "Thank you," she said, relieved beyond belief that she would be able to put off having to talk about what she had done at least until she was feeling awake enough to think clearly. She just hoped he wouldn't change his opinion of her once he heard what she had to say.

- - -

"…and then it bowed to me, but more like it was mocking me than because it was serious, and just disappeared," Sakura finished. In a softer voice, so quietly as to be almost inaudible, she admitted, "I was so afraid, Sarutobi-shishou. I'm not even sure why, since it didn't try to hurt me at all, but it was like it scared me just by being there."

"And you think this makes you weak, somehow?" the Hokage asked, his tone neutral. Her head down, unable to look him in the eye after what she had just said, Sakura nodded. She heard him sigh, as though she had disappointed him, and she mentally braced herself for whatever he might say.

"Child, you are too hard on yourself." That was not what she had been expecting to hear, and, startled, she glanced up to see him looking at her, an exasperated expression on his face.

"I would have been far more worried if you had _not_ been frightened of the Nine-Tails," he continued. "When it attacked the village, even experienced ninja found themselves terrified by its mere presence, and to face it knowing that it was inside your own mind…anyone sane would have been afraid in your position. I am proud of you for being able to stand up to your fear."

_He's…proud of me?_ Sakura thought, barely able to believe what she had just heard. Suddenly, she felt certain that this was going to be one of the best days in her entire life, and she risked a hesitant smile.

"Much better," the Hokage said. "Now, I believe it is time for your lesson. Come outside, and you can show me how much progress you have made on the Fuuinkoku technique. He turned and opened the door leading out to their usual practice area—a small, fenced-in yard where nobody would be able to see Sakura performing techniques for which many people might try to have her executed simply for knowing, regardless of the fact that the Hokage himself had been teaching her.

Inwardly, Sakura groaned as she stood up and followed him. While she had been meditating much more, recently, she hadn't actually practiced the Wind Engraving technique itself at all while she had been away on the mission, and she hoped he wouldn't be too disappointed with her.

"Start with something simple," he told her. "I think the Shiryoku Funin, one meter radius, would be a good test."

Sakura nodded, glad that he had chosen a simple three-character seal—and one of the first ones she had learned, too, for its simplicity and usefulness. Perhaps she wouldn't embarrass herself as badly as she had been afraid of. Centering herself, she thought of exactly how she would write out the Vision Diversion Seal if she were doing so by hand, and, keeping that picture in her mind, she ran through a series of hand seals with which she had become quite familiar over the past several months. A whispered "Fuuton: Fuuinkoku no Jutsu" completed the technique, and she felt chakra begin to flow out of her much more smoothly than she could ever remember happening before. She held her breath as she waited to see the results.

"I did it!" she exclaimed once the small cloud of dust dissipated, unable to keep from bursting out in joyful laughter at her success. Whether it was because of the long hours of meditation she had been doing recently or—she shivered at the thought—because of her memories of manipulating the Nine-Tails' chakra so easily, she found it was almost trivial now to mentally mark out the paths with her chakra for the technique's miniature windstorms to follow.

"Not bad," the Hokage said, nodding in approval as he inspected the simple pattern she had inscribed on the soft earth by her feet. "Now try a more complex sealing diagram…say, the yellow seal of the Gofuu Kekkai."

Sakura winced, feeling her good mood begin to evaporate. That had been one of the last seals the Hokage had taught her before the mission, and she hoped she could remember it properly. Along with the linked seals for the other directions, it formed an impenetrable barrier, but since all five seals needed to be activated simultaneously, the technique was impossible for one person to perform alone—not that she had enough chakra to activate even one of the directional seals. The yellow seal represented the principle of the center, and as such it was by far the most complicated; it would take a significant amount of chakra just to form the visualized pattern, and even more would be required to sustain the winds long enough to trace out the entire diagram.

_Oh well, it's better than more meditation practice_, she thought with a trace of humor as she began the technique. Spinning out intricate webs of chakra in a pattern visible only to her mind's eye, she could feel a very noticeable drain on her reserves, but she was pleased to find that she was able to sustain the technique long enough to let it run its course. The result—a perfectly formed seal, as far as she could tell—was definitely worth the headache she could already feel forming.

The Hokage bent down and examined the seal closely, then shook his head, causing Sakura to wonder what she had done wrong. When he stood back up, though, he was actually smiling, an event so rare that she thought she could count on one hand the number of times she had seen him do so during the three years he had been teaching her. She had learned to both understand and appreciate his habit of giving unconditional praise only sparingly, but seeing him so obviously pleased with her woke something warm within her, and she smiled back at him.

"I did not expect you to succeed with that one," he told her, still smiling as he motioned for her to precede him indoors, where the large scroll she had seen the previous day was resting on a low table. "Your chakra control is nothing short of amazing, and I truly wish my successor could have known you. I have a feeling he would have liked you very much, and you could have learned a great deal from him."

Sakura bowed her head in an attempt to hide the blush she could feel creeping over her face. "Thank you, Sarutobi-shishou," she murmured, uncomfortable with both the praise and his reference to the Fourth Hokage. "I'm not sure I could do that technique again without having to rest for a while, though."

"Then it is fortunate that the rest of today's lesson will be spent studying the scroll I showed you yesterday," the Hokage said. The two of them sat down at the table and, as he unrolled the scroll, Sakura found herself wondering if she was really ready for this yet. Despite his praise, she couldn't help but think of how much she still had left to learn, and she remembered how much trouble she had had deciphering even basic information about her seal when she first started trying to learn about it.

To her surprise, though, she found that she could easily understand the notes the Fourth had written, and while many of the calculations and diagrams were over her head, she thought she would be able to figure them out with a bit of study. What impressed her the most were the seemingly-intuitive leaps in logic the Fourth had made as he worked out the elements of the seal, and for the first time she saw why her own teacher called him the greatest fuuinjutsu master the village had ever seen. It was one thing to be able to understand and perform a technique, but it was something else entirely to be able to _develop_ one.

Suddenly, Sakura felt very foolish as she recalled her confident promise so many years ago that she would find a way to improve on the Fourth's seal, which she now realized was something that could almost be considered a work of art to those who understood its complexities. She wondered if this was how the Hokage had felt when he heard her, and she couldn't help but wince as she thought of how arrogant and ignorant she must have sounded. It was a wonder that he had agreed to teach her at all.

"Feeling a bit intimidated, are you?" The Hokage's voice startled her out of her thoughts, and she jumped slightly at the noise while wondering how long she had been studying the scroll in silence.

"Yes," she admitted, hanging her head. "I understand a lot of what he did, but I don't see at all how he knew how to do it. And there are still some things I don't understand at all, like these weird chakra flow diagrams and…um, are these equations supposed to represent some sort of decay over time?"

The Hokage leaned closer to the scroll, his brow furrowed in thought. "They appear to be a model of some sort of balancing or redistribution between two unequal quantities," he said after a few moments' inspection of the lines she pointed to. "Aside from that, I am unsure, but I must admit that I have not actually studied these notes in that much detail. For the chakra diagrams, I would suggest consulting some of the texts used by medic-nins, since this seal is intended to be placed on a human body."

_That makes sense_, Sakura thought. The main seal's chakra would definitely have some sort of effect on a person's own chakra coils, though from what she understood, the two secondary seals were intended to reduce those effects in some way. She remembered what the Nine-Tails had said about the seals being equivalent to a door and its lock, but the actuality of the situation was more complicated than that. What confused her the most was that there were two separate sets of calculations and diagrams that both appeared to solve the same initial problem, and she couldn't tell which solution was correct.

"In any event," the Hokage said, "I am afraid we will have to finish our lesson early today. I have some important business to attend to, made even more urgent by what your team discovered on your mission."

His tone made it clear that no further information would be forthcoming, so she simply nodded and stood up, closing the scroll. As she bowed and left after thanking him, though, she found herself wondering what he meant and if it had anything to do with why he seemed so much more tired now than she remembered him being less than a month ago. Perhaps Naruto or Hinata would know something she didn't, given who their parents were, and she resolved to ask them when she saw them tomorrow for training.

- - -

Shikamaru was bored—not an uncommon state of mind for him, he had to admit, and generally one in which he was perfectly happy to indulge himself. It was far better than actually having to exert himself in some manner, after all. At the moment, though, he was rapidly approaching the point where he wondered if he might lapse into unconsciousness, and even by his standards, that was a bit much. It pained him to admit it, but the only thing keeping him awake was Ino, Chouji having fallen asleep some time ago after eating enough to make the restaurant manager cry.

_What gave Asuma-sensei the brilliant idea to hold a team meeting at a buffet-style yakiniku restaurant?_ he wondered. _Especially since he never bothered to show up. That sounds more like something Naruto's team's jounin-sensei would do._ Perhaps something more important had come up at the last minute, but as far as he knew, things had been remarkably quiet and peaceful recently, especially by the standards of a hidden village. He couldn't remember his father mentioning anything out of the ordinary, at least, though he supposed that didn't necessarily mean much if it was something classified.

Still considering the situation, he nodded absently as he pretended to listen to what Ino was saying about how pointless their latest practice had been. It wasn't that he didn't agree with her in principle, but it was just more of the same things she had been saying for the last month. He wasn't quite sure why she was upset, though; in her place, he would have been perfectly happy to be able to lie back and relax while someone else bore the brunt of Asuma-sensei's attention—not that playing go and shogi with him was a great hardship, he had to admit, since the older ninja was an interesting and challenging opponent.

"Hey, weren't Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata supposed to get back today?" Ino asked, seeming to tire of her former subject. "I want to know how their mission went."

Apparently Chouji hadn't been asleep after all, as he raised his head from the table. "Yesterday afternoon, actually," he said. "I saw Hinata on her way back to the Hyuuga compound, but she looked really tired, so I didn't say anything to her."

Ino frowned. "They got back yesterday and Sakura hasn't come by to see me yet?" she wondered aloud. "I hope she's all right. They were gone for a long time, after all, and it was a C-rank mission."

She sounded as though she wasn't sure whether to be worried or a bit hurt that Sakura hadn't told her she was back, and Shikamaru sighed. Why did girls always have to take things so personally? If, gods forbid, _he_ had been on a C-rank mission and traveled fast enough to get back a day and a half ahead of schedule, he knew the only thing he would have been thinking of would be sleeping—which wasn't all that different from his normal thoughts, but he figured it was a desire anyone would be able to understand in that situation. He knew better than to mention that to Ino, though.

"Hinata didn't look hurt, just tired," Chouji said, then shrugged. "They're probably all still resting. It's not like the Hokage would have given genin a dangerous mission or anything, even if it was C-rank."

Ino still didn't appear totally convinced, but she nodded anyways. "Yeah, you're probably right," she sighed. "I wonder why they got back so early, though, if everything went okay."

_That's…actually a good point_, Shikamaru realized, faintly surprised. It wasn't that Ino was stupid—far from it, actually—but she tended to prefer action to introspection, and he would not necessarily have expected her to think of something like that. Perhaps Team Seven had found out some sort of information that was important enough to warrant their early return, though if he remembered correctly, they had gone to a fairly remote, unimportant part of the country. He just wished he could remember exactly where that had been. Then an easy way to get answers to his questions occurred to him—so easy, in fact, that he wouldn't even have to do anything.

"Why not go check on Sakura?" he asked Ino. "If she just got back from a long mission yesterday, she probably doesn't have much food in her apartment, so you could take her some dinner and find out about her mission too."

_And, of course_, he thought, _then you can tell us all about it tomorrow before practice._ It was fairly obvious that if Asuma-sensei hadn't shown up by now, he probably wasn't coming at all, so it was time for them to leave anyways before the restaurant staff did more than just glare at them—well, at Chouji, at any rate. This way, Ino could get some reassurance that Sakura was fine, and he would learn what had happened during his friends' mission without having to go to the bother of finding one of them to ask. Granted, he would probably see one or more of them soon enough anyways, but it was more the principle of the matter than anything else.

"Good idea, Shika-kun," Ino said, grinning widely. He sighed at the nickname, knowing she only called him that because it annoyed him. "Well, in that case, I'm going to go before it gets too late. See you tomorrow!"

After waving goodbye, she turned and left, causing Shikamaru to sigh again as he realized she had forgotten to leave any money for her part of the meal. It appeared that this plan would be more troublesome than he had thought, if only monetarily, and he hoped she would learn something interesting. He also hoped nothing serious had happened to Sakura and the others, but Chouji had said Hinata appeared fine, and he was sure that if something _had_ happened, none of them would have escaped uninjured. He did not envy the fate of the person who tried attacking any of the members of Team Seven.

_Well, no point in worrying about it now, when anything that might happen already has_. Nodding to Chouji, he stood up, waiting for the other boy to join him. Hopefully tomorrow would bring answers to the questions that persisted in annoying him.

- - -

Author's Notes: Wow, thanks for all the reviews again! I'm glad that people seem to like--or at least are interested in--my portrayal of the Kyuubi, and as hopefully came through in this chapter, the differences from canon will definitely be explored in some detail. Unfortunately, due to holiday-related time constraints (traveling/vacation, trying to finish stuff off at work before said vacation, etc.), I don't expect to have another chapter finished before some time in January. My apologies to anyone who's disappointed, but I just won't have the time; at least this chapter doesn't end on a nasty cliffhanger.

Just to give a little background on a couple of areas that some people might be interested in given their relative importance to the story, I'm primarily drawing from Taoist sources for my system of meditation, mostly because Buddhist visual meditation tends to be much more focused on external goals (e.g., visualizing the Pure Land of Amida or the Western Paradise) rather than an internal understanding of one's own body. For seals, though, I'm working almost entirely from Esoteric Buddhist sources, primarily those dealing with the creation of mandalas. So, while I am making stuff up as I go along, it all does have at least some grounding in real-life mysticism. In any event, thank you for reading, and I hope you continue to enjoy the story!


	13. Twelve: To Fight

"Welcome, Kakashi. Only fifteen minutes late…you're slipping." The Hokage's amused voice greeted Kakashi as he body-flickered into the inner office, and he smiled a bit—not that it was visible beneath his mask—and nodded.

"I blame my genin," he replied, shrugging as he sat down. "Since I've started working with them, I haven't seemed to need to spend so much time…well, you know. Not that that stops me from having a bit of fun at their expense, of course." It was not an admission he would have made to many people, but it was true, even funny in an odd sort of way.

He had once all but sworn he would never take a genin team, yet it seemed that the act of teaching the team that had managed to pass his tests was finally allowing him to let go of the reasons he had had for not wanting to do so in the first place. His visits to the memorial stone were becoming more remembrance and reminder, and less wallowing in a guilt that he had known was unhealthy to carry but could not seem to make himself leave behind.

His genin were nothing like his old teammates, and he would never dare to compare himself to his own jounin-sensei, but he imagined he could see reflections of each of them in the other. Ironically, it had been Naruto and Hinata's stubborn protectiveness of Sakura, which so closely mirrored his own towards Rin in the wake of Uchiha animosity over her transplantation of Obito's sharingan eye into his own empty socket, that had finally allowed him to let go of the last of his misgivings towards the pink-haired genin. That he had switched roles, from protector to perceived threat, did not escape his notice, and he silently apologized to the spirit of his teammate for letting his anger over her death overpower his memories of her life.

If the Hokage intended to speak to him today about what he suspected, though, that protectiveness would have to fade somewhat. It was understandable, even justifiable, but there were times when principle had to defer to practicality, and his genin would need to learn everything he could teach them if they were to have a chance to survive what seemed to be coming. He would _make_ them see that, if necessary; that, he had promised not just his teammates but his sensei as well.

"I imagine you have some idea why I wished to speak with you today," the Hokage said, apparently sensing that his thoughts had returned to the current problem facing the village.

Kakashi nodded. "Especially since you met with Yuuhi Kurenai and Sarutobi Asuma yesterday, yes," he said. "I've noticed an increase in ANBU activity since my team's return as well, even more than I would have expected. I'm unsure how what we discovered is related to the upcoming chuunin exams, though."

"That part, at least, seems quite clear," the Hokage replied, sighing as he turned to gaze out of his window at the town spread out below. "Several days after your team's departure, we received messengers from a new village, one located in Rice Field Country. This Hidden Village of Sound, as they call themselves, wishes to enter a team in the examinations."

"Orochimaru's spies."

It was not a question, but the Hokage nodded grimly in response. "Perhaps even more than that," he continued. "We were able to backtrack the movements of the ninja your genin fought, and we suspect he may have met with messengers from certain of the other villages that will be sending teams to compete. The ANBU team sent to investigate even found what appears to be a trail leading from our own village."

Kakashi simply stared at the Hokage for a moment, stunned at the enormity of what he was hearing. Betrayal, conspiracy on the grandest scale, collaboration with the most notorious missing-nin in the Leaf's history—and somehow his genin had found their way into the middle of it all. No, there would be no room for even well-intentioned defiance on his students' part; he would not lose them as he had lost his teammates.

"And then, of course there is the matter of the kunai you discovered," the Hokage said, breaking him out of his momentarily diverted thoughts. "I am sure you understand the implications of its presence there."

Kakashi could think of any number of explanations for that, but they all fit together in confusing ways, linked only by a word he had heard on occasion while he was still in ANBU. A finely-made kunai, marked with the Uchiha clan insignia, found in a place where its owner could have had only one reason to be, meant…

"Akatsuki."

"Quite." The Hokage's response was concerned, and for a moment his face appeared to show every year of his unusually—for a ninja, at least—long life. "I have had an…agent watching the activities of that organization for quite some time now, and we know for certain that Uchiha Itachi has been a member since shortly after he left the Leaf. Given what we know of their intentions, it is perhaps understandable that he would be near your team—or, more specifically, near Sakura. That he would reveal his presence, however, is cause for concern."

Kakashi cleared his throat, drawing the Hokage's attention, then said, "I might have an idea about that, actually. According to my genin, the ninja who attacked them said that he was just taking advantage of the lucky diversion caused by the ninja I was chasing. Assuming he was telling the truth, that still doesn't mean the diversion was as unplanned as he thought."

"You think Itachi may have deliberately drawn you away from your team, hoping that Orochimaru's ninja would act exactly as he did?" the Hokage asked, frowning thoughtfully. "That does seem possible; we know that Akatsuki is interested in the tailed demons for some reason, so he could have been hoping to gather more information on Sakura as the Nine-Tails' vessel.

"Even if that is the case, though, we simply do not know enough about Akatsuki or their goals to say anything with certainty. Given the more concrete threat posed by Orochimaru, not to mention a solid timeline for his plan, I cannot justify devoting any resources to investigating Itachi's actions. That does not mean that they should be ignored, however."

Kakashi almost flinched at the piercing look in the Hokage's eyes, and he remembered that Sakura was not just his student but the older ninja's as well. Caught between his concern for one genin and his duty towards the entire village, the Hokage had no choice but to place the village's safety as paramount—and expect Kakashi to make up the difference. It was not an enviable position to be in, especially given what he remembered and had heard of the rogue Uchiha's abilities, but Kakashi had no intention of shirking the trust the Hokage was placing in him.

"I understand," he said, and the Hokage nodded, a satisfied look on his face.

"I thought you would. Now, here is what I have in mind regarding the chuunin examinations…"

- - -

Sakura stared at her jounin-sensei, unsure if she had really heard him correctly, and she could see Naruto and Hinata doing the same. He had not shown up for their morning training session, but she never could have guessed that the reason would have been something like this. None of them had really expected him to meet them after lunch either, but when they arrived at their usual training grounds by the river, they had had to wait for less than half an hour before he appeared. For Kakashi, that was practically early, and she had suspected then that something important was going on.

"So…" she murmured, barely loud enough for her teammates to hear, as she considered what Kakashi had just told them. "Orochimaru—the 'master' that ninja who attacked us mentioned—is going to try to do something at the chuunin exams, and it probably involves at least some of the other villages, too. We don't know what, though, so in order to force his hand, we need to at least seem like we're giving him what he wants. Which is where the three of us fit in, assuming that what that ninja said is true."

Beside her, Naruto summed up the situation far more succinctly. "Bait," he said, sounding disgusted. "You want to dangle us out and hope that the most evil missing-nin in the history of the Leaf doesn't manage to kill us before you can get him."

Sakura wasn't sure she would have put it so bluntly, but she couldn't argue with her blond teammate's conclusion. Remembering some of the things the dead ninja had said made her shudder, and when she thought of what she had read about _why_ Orochimaru had been declared a missing-nin, she couldn't help but wonder if Kakashi—or whoever had been responsible for this plan—was really serious. Even aside from that, though it seemed almost unimportant comparatively, the chuunin exams were dangerous in and of themselves.

"Yes, I'm quite serious, though we don't know whether Orochimaru himself will come or if he's only planning on sending people in his place. We have to plan for the worst case, though, and assume he will show up in person," Kakashi said, and Sakura realized she must have spoken aloud. "You won't be the only rookie team out there, either; he has been after the secrets of the Uchiha sharingan for longer than you've been alive, so Team Eight will be entering the exams as well, and in order to avoid any suspicion on his part, so will Team Ten."

_Like that's supposed to make it better?_ Sakura wondered. Much as she disliked Kiba and Sasuke, she wouldn't wish death—or worse, in Sasuke's case, if Orochimaru's interest in him was similar to what his minion had said about Hinata—on either of them. Hearing that her friends would be involved too, especially when they had nothing to do with any of it except as camouflage to make the bait seem more attractive, upset her even more. Judging by their expressions, Naruto and Hinata felt much the same way.

"Even if we hadn't found out about this situation, I still would have entered you in the exams," Kakashi said, perhaps sensing their unhappiness, "and I imagine the same is true for the other teams' jounin-sensei as well. It's been a long time since the village has seen such a promising group of rookie genin. At least this way, you know what you'll likely be faced with."

There wasn't much Sakura could say to argue with that. It still bothered her that she and her friends were going to be used in such a seemingly callous manner, and the possibility of meeting the infamous snake sannin frightened her more than she cared to think. If it was a choice between knowing what she was getting into or going into it blind, though, she would take knowing and having a plan any day.

_Besides, we're ninja_, she told herself. _Maybe we're only genin, but we still have a responsibility to protect the village_. She was sure others had faced even more unpleasant duties in the past—knew they had; she had only to think of the seal around her navel to realize that—and hadn't walked away from them. How, then, could she do any less?

Kakashi nodded once, apparently satisfied with whatever he read on their faces. "Good," he said. "Now that that's settled, I'll tell you how I'll be preparing you for this. Or, perhaps I should say how _we'll_ be preparing you, since the other two teams' jounin-sensei and I have agreed to hold some joint training exercises. During our team's regular practice sessions, you'll still be working on what I've shown you so far, but the joint exercises will be different.

"The Hokage thinks—and I agree with him—that the most likely time for Orochimaru to strike will be during the second part of the exam, since that stage takes place away from the village itself. That means we'll be running all of you through some actual exam scenarios from past years in order to get you used to the situations you'll be facing. Once you get used to those, the three of us will be introducing additional elements into the mix."

"Additional elements?" Hinata asked, breaking her silence for the first time since Kakashi had started talking. "Like what?"

"Like attacks from us, among other things," Kakashi replied, and Sakura gave an involuntary shiver upon hearing the hardness in his voice. "Our goal is to make sure all of you are as ready as possible for anything that might happen, so don't expect us to pull our punches. The next several weeks are going to be miserable for you, but I assume you would rather have a greater chance of living through the exams."

Despite the gravity of the situation, Sakura nearly laughed as she saw Naruto roll his eyes. "That's a pretty safe assumption," he muttered. More loudly, he said, "So we get to fight Sasuke's team? Sounds good to me."

For her part, Sakura wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about the prospect. She did have to admit, though, if only to herself, that she wouldn't mind a chance to show off some of the things she had learned. She was not helpless, and if Kiba—she wasn't stupid enough to think she could take on Sasuke—tried to humiliate her as he had at the academy, he would find himself quite surprised. That made her wonder something else, though.

"Kakashi-sensei, what about my fuuinjutsu?" she asked. "The Hokage said I could practice techniques away from the village, or with my team, but what about when we're working with the other teams?"

Kakashi looked at her intently, and she felt her face flush under his regard, wondering if she had said something wrong. "You're going to need to use everything you know if you want even a chance of surviving this," he said, his tone neutral. "I can't tell you to disobey your teacher, but it would be foolish not to practice with all the weapons at your disposal."

_Everything?_ Sakura thought to herself uneasily, remembering fire and pain and blood. If it came down to that, though, she would do what she had to.

If one good thing had come out of this whole situation, it would have to be that Naruto seemed to have forgotten his anger at Kakashi, at least for the moment. "What about missions?" he asked. "We're not going to have to do stupid stuff like walk dogs or clean people's houses any more, are we? That would just be a waste of training time."

"No," Kakashi answered him. "No more missions, D-rank or otherwise, until after the exams are over. Until next week, you'll have the normal morning and afternoon practice sessions, but you'll be starting the joint exercises after that. Those could take anywhere from a few hours to finish up to more than a day, depending on the scenario objectives, so once you start doing them, our team practices won't be on a set schedule.

"That's later, though. Now," he said, shifting into more of a lecturing tone, "I'm going to show you some ninjutsu that are intended more for tactical purposes than direct damage. Hinata, these will probably be especially useful for you—you'll see why—but I want all of you to learn them."

As Kakashi demonstrated the first technique, one that shrouded the area around the user in dense, clammy mist, Sakura could see why he had said Hinata would find it valuable. With her byakugan, she would be able to see perfectly well through the fog, while most other ninja would be considerably hampered by being forced to rely on their other senses. It could also be used to cover an escape, Sakura thought, provided that the user had a good idea of the surrounding terrain.

She didn't especially like ninjutsu—for the most part, it seemed to rely too much on sheer chakra strength to be suited to her abilities and inclinations—but she couldn't deny the potential usefulness of techniques such as this one. While she was sure there were counter-techniques that could get rid of the fog, even a few moments' grace period could be enough to turn a doomed fight into a safe retreat. Grimly, she set her mind to memorizing the hand seals necessary for performing the technique, even as she wished it wasn't necessary for her to learn it at all.

- - -

'_Need to link Shishou Fuuin—how? Double dependency from each cardinal direction to the intermediate buffer seal symbols? Or use two in conjunction, but chakra flow resonance could be an issue.'…ugh, I should've gotten something to eat before doing this_, Sakura thought to herself as she heard her stomach growl.

It helped somewhat that, unlike the Fourth Hokage whose notes she was reading, she already knew that he had chosen the latter option. His reasons for doing so, though, were what really interested her, but with her luck they would be related to the chakra flow diagrams she still hadn't figured out. It was almost enough to make her want to scream in frustration, but, deciding that indulging herself in that manner would no doubt disturb her teacher, she simply banged her forehead on the table a few times.

"Great," she muttered to herself afterwards. "Now I'm confused, sleepy, _and_ I've got a headache. Brilliant." Sighing, she raised her head back up and began reading the scroll in front of her again, this time focusing on the section with the two sets of mysterious calculations that both appeared to be correct—no matter how impossible that was. In spite of herself, she found she was glad the Hokage wasn't here to witness her frustration; even though she had no doubt he would sympathize with her, she still didn't want to disappoint him by displaying her ignorance.

He was busy, though, as he had been ever since her team returned to the village from their mission. When Sakura had come to his office that day for her weekly lesson, he had almost absently directed her to a back room, furnished with little more than a table and chair, and handed her the scroll of forbidden techniques before leaving again to tend to business that couldn't wait. She understood the reasons for his preoccupation—how could she not, especially after the past several days of grueling training and the promise of worse to come—but at the same time she missed their normal interaction.

If nothing else, perhaps he could have explained how to interpret the diagrams she had found in an anatomy text. While she knew from talking to Hinata what chakra coils supposedly looked like in reality, the confusing mishmash of overlapping lines and arrows on the charts didn't match the Hyuuga's descriptions at all, and she wished she had her friend there to help her. Consulting a medic-nin would have been an even better option, but she didn't dare do that; many of them seemed to harbor even greater dislike for her than the rest of the villagers did, as though they resented her for their own inability to save all the people who had died as a result of the Nine-Tails' attack.

_And if I start feeling sorry for myself, I'll never figure any of this out_, Sakura sighed to herself as she made idle designs on the pad of paper she used for her own notes. She tried to follow the equations written on the scroll, but some part of her mind was still wondering where she had seen a linkage between two seals similar to the one the Fourth had been considering; it seemed so familiar, but she couldn't quite place it—until she looked down at her notepad and realized that in her preoccupation, she had doodled out the 'fuse' seals used on explosive tags.

_That's it!_ she thought excitedly, only just keeping herself from letting out a cry of triumph. As Kakashi had explained during the previous day's morning practice session, which had covered a wide variety of lethally creative trap styles, explosive tags used a miniscule chakra charge to trigger the tag's actual explosive portion. The seals used to delay the release of that chakra—and the subsequent explosion—were almost identical to the Four Symbols Seals the Fourth had incorporated into the seal he had used on her, so if that seal could be used to regulate the flow of chakra, it didn't seem like much of a stretch to assume that it was related to the equations she was studying. In turn, that meant that the imbalanced quantities the equations modeled were probably the seal's chakra and the host's chakra.

Sakura felt her head spin as she considered the implications of her discovery, assuming she was correct. The main seal itself was the physical manifestation of the Nine-Tails' chakra—and soul, apparently, based on her own recent experience—so if the twinned Four Symbols Seals were intended to balance that chakra with that of the person on whom the seal was inscribed, it would presumably result in massive chakra reserves for that person. Then the reality of the situation occurred to her, and her shoulders slumped in defeat. _She_ was the host, and her chakra reserves certainly weren't anything significant, which meant she must have made a mistake somewhere in her chain of assumptions.

_Back to the beginning_, she decided, disappointed. She had to admit that she wouldn't be nearly as interested in the problem if it wasn't so difficult, but at that moment she wouldn't have minded some assistance, or maybe just a hint or two. Still feeling that the equations were the key to the entire puzzle, she bent over the scroll to examine them once again. They started from the same initial values, written down in the Fourth's surprisingly tidy script, but diverged radically after the first few steps—immediately following the references to the chakra coil diagrams.

Apparently the Fourth had had the same idea as Sakura, because she could see now that the left-hand set of equations described precisely what she had just assumed to be the case. She supposed he hadn't been able to make it work either, since the right-hand equations appeared to represent a situation more like her own. Something about the diagrams was nagging at her memory, though, and she began to flip through the anatomy book lying on the table next to the scroll.

It didn't take her long at all to find what she was looking for, and she groaned as she wondered how she could have been so unobservant. If she ignored all the arrows, different colors, and other symbols that cluttered the charts in the book, it was plain to see that two diagrams on facing pages near the front of the book were nearly perfect matches for the ones the Fourth had sketched in the scroll. It seemed her assumptions hadn't been quite as wrong as she thought.

_I need to tell Sarutobi-shishou about this_, she thought, part of her mind still numb at the significance of her discovery. Finally, she had the answer to one of the questions that had always troubled her: why her? Presumably, the Fourth had decided that the risks associated with allowing the Nine-Tails' chakra to mix with a human's, even filtered through the seal, were not worth the potential benefits, and so he had had no choice but to use a girl instead of a boy. She didn't understand _what_ about the differences in chakra coil structure between the two sexes would affect how the seal operated, but it was clear that the Fourth had known and accounted for it.

Suddenly, Sakura remembered the words the Nine-Tails had spoken about how it would rather die—and do worse than kill her, before that—than be used, and, thinking of the implications of those neat rows of numerological equations, felt a chill run down her spine at the thought of the likely consequences if it had been sealed in a boy. The Fourth couldn't have known about that particular factor, of course, but she shuddered to think of how angry the demon inside her would have become if it had had to deal with its chakra being siphoned off for someone's use ever since it was trapped in the seal.

For the first time in her life, she was genuinely thankful that the Fourth had chosen to seal the Nine-Tails inside her rather than the other obvious possibility. She knew from examining archived hospital records that she and Naruto had been the only babies born that day, and before, she had assumed she was chosen simply because he saw her as more expendable than his own son. It had been hard to control her bitterness at that thought, sometimes, though the fact that Naruto himself was one of her closest friends made it easier. Now, though, she felt more than a little ashamed at how much she had subconsciously resented the Fourth's decision; he had had good reason to choose as he did, and perhaps an even better reason that he had not known about.

Getting out of her seat, Sakura gathered up the scroll and books she had been using. She was sure the Hokage would want to know this, but more than that, she was starving and exhausted both physically—Kakashi hadn't been exaggerating in the slightest when he said he would be putting them through hell—and mentally. She hadn't spent quite as long today studying the Fourth's notes as she had hoped to, but she was still quite happy with the amount of progress she had made, and she decided she deserved a bit of a break.

- - -

_Just a little more time left on the rice, and…ack! The dumplings are going to burn!_ Sakura realized, hastily sliding the dumplings she had been frying off of their pan and onto a plate. Much to her disappointment, they were definitely a bit overcooked, but they still looked quite edible—not that that meant much in her current state, she had to admit, since she was fairly certain she would have eaten just about anything set in front of her at the moment.

The Hokage had been engrossed in an important-seeming conversation with two ANBU members when she had entered his office, so she had left as quietly as she could without literally tiptoeing past them, a bit disappointed that she would have to wait to share with him what she had discovered. Still, as significant as it was to her personally, she knew it wasn't anything so urgent that it could take priority over matters of village security—and if ANBU was involved, the subject of the conversation could have been nothing else. She wondered if it had been related to the upcoming chuunin exams, and if so, if she and her teammates would ever hear about it. There were still things Kakashi wasn't telling them; he didn't even try to hide that fact, but neither would he answer their questions.

Sakura wished she could feel annoyed at that—he was the one who had said that things would go better if they knew what they were facing, after all—but, perhaps because of the seriousness of the situation, for once her training as a ninja managed to curtail her natural curiosity. Even Naruto seemed not to mind their jounin-sensei's evasiveness too much, though he had been more than a little annoyed at first. To Sakura's relief, much of his anger towards Kakashi had faded away since the jounin's revelations about what was expected to occur during the chuunin exams, though it still showed itself in flashes at times.

_Hm…what's that…smell?_

"Oh, no!" she moaned, grabbing the pot in which the rice had been cooking and hurriedly dumping it out into a bowl—or, at least, what little rice wasn't inextricably glued to the pan's bottom and sides. Cursing her lack of attention, she pried at the glutinous mass with a serving spoon, trying to dislodge just a little bit more. What was left wouldn't have fed her even on a normal day, though, much less today; Kakashi had decided they needed practical experience in 'escape and evasion maneuvers,' which translated to her and her teammates dodging frantically through the woods for hours on end while he tossed shuriken and low-powered ninjutsu at them. He hadn't even given them a lunch break.

"Something wrong, Sakura-chan?" asked an amused voice from behind her, and, still on edge from the day's training, she threw herself to the ground and blindly flung the pot in her hands in the approximate direction of whoever had spoken.

"Ouch!" the voice yelped, and Sakura winced as she recognized it. "Sakura-chan, what was that for? Okay, maybe I should've knocked, but still…"

"Um…sorry, Ino-chan," Sakura said, feeling herself blush a deep red as she stood up and turned around—then had to bite her tongue to keep herself from bursting out in laughter. Ino, still dressed in the sweat- and dirt-stained clothes she had obviously been training in, stood there with her hands on her hips, an indignant expression on her face…and clumps of scorched rice clinging to her shirt. The pot lay at her feet, somewhat dented from having fallen to the tile floor, and the whole picture was so ludicrous that finally Sakura couldn't contain herself any longer.

"You…overcooked rice…don't startle me!" she managed to get out around fits of giggles, even as she plucked rice off of her bemused friend and tossed it into the pot. Finally, when she had gotten all of the rice off of Ino, she sighed, feeling her humorous mood vanish as quickly as it had come over her.

_Now what am I going to do for dinner?_ she wondered glumly. Just dumplings wouldn't be enough, but it was too late to go shopping for groceries, and she wasn't sure she had enough money at the moment to eat out. Kakashi had said they wouldn't get their mission payments for another few weeks, probably, given how busy everyone in any sort of administrative capacity was with preparing for the chuunin exams.

Suddenly, she realized Ino was poking her forehead and looking at her curiously. "Hello, Sakura-chan…are you in there?" the other girl asked, now beginning to sound a bit annoyed. "I'm sorry I came in without knocking, but you didn't have to throw stuff at me, you know."

"I didn't…well, I guess I did mean to," Sakura said, sighing as she tossed the pan into her sink. "But it wasn't on purpose, Ino-chan, I promise. Kakashi-sensei has been training us really hard, and I guess I'm a little…"

"Jumpy?" Ino offered, a deadpan expression on her face. "Tense? Homicidal? I can go on, if you want."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Someone's been spending way too much time with Shikamaru," she muttered.

"I heard that," Ino said, sticking her tongue out at Sakura. "Don't be mean, or I won't show you what I brought over. And judging by the imitation of my dad you're doing, I don't think you'd like that very much."

"Hey! I'm not _that_ hopeless in the kitchen," Sakura protested. "Well, at least not usually. I'm just a little—" She stopped talking in the middle of her sentence, forgetting what she was going to say as a heavenly scent seemed to waft into her nostrils.

_Mmm…I smell yakisoba, and fresh steamed dumplings, and…is that _udon Nearly drooling, she approached the small wooden table she usually ate at, entranced by the sight of the white paper cartons sitting on it.

Behind her, she heard Ino sigh. "Fine," the blonde girl said, and Sakura could hear the mock disappointment in her voice. "I can tell when I'm not wanted. Go ahead and ignore me, I don't mind. I'll just stand over here and watch you eat the food I brought over for you."

"Mmhmm, you do that," Sakura replied in between mouthfuls of udon. "Well, you could sit down if you want, I guess." Cursory courtesies offered, she returned to her meal, even as part of her winced at the thought of the reaction she would no doubt receive from her somewhat temperamental best friend once she was done eating. She would have to find some way to thank Ino later, but for now she was too hungry to concentrate on anything except the food in front of her.

Some time later, when the only remaining evidence of the very large meal Ino had brought with her was a single dumpling sitting in its carton, Sakura sighed contentedly. Turning to her friend, who was lounging on the sofa and amusing herself by tossing a kunai from hand to hand, she flushed as she recalled her previous words.

"Um…Ino-chan?" she asked hesitantly. "I…thanks for bringing me some food. I'm sorry I—"

"Don't worry," Ino said, leaning back over the arm of the sofa and giving her an upside-down grin. "I owe you for whatever your team found out that has Asuma-sensei finally teaching us stuff. Besides, I tried coming over to see you the day after you got back from your mission, but you were asleep then and I didn't want to wake you up. I've been too busy with training and working at the shop to come by since then, but we had the afternoon and evening off today, so I thought you might want some company."

Sakura smiled back at her, then frowned as she realized exactly what her friend had said. "You mean your jounin-sensei hasn't told you what's going on?" she asked, hoping she had misheard.

"Nooo…" Ino said slowly, trailing off as she apparently registered the surprise on Sakura's face. "Why, is something wrong? But…why would you know about it if Asuma-sensei hasn't told us?"

_What do I do?_ Sakura wondered. _Do I say anything, or not?_ When she saw Ino's innocently curious expression, she started to feel miserable at the thought of her friends potentially going into a dangerous situation without knowing anything about what was really going on. Surely their jounin-sensei had a reason for not telling them, though, and she wasn't sure if she had the right to go around him by explaining everything to her friend.

"…must have something to do with whatever happened on your mission that Naruto said he couldn't talk about."

The sound of Ino's voice interrupted Sakura's thoughts, and she nodded. "It's…well, it's connected." With practiced effort, she pushed away the memory of the ninja she had killed and what he had planned to do with her teammates. "But not completely. At least, I don't think so, based on what Kakashi-sensei told us…oh, I don't know _what_ to do," she sighed, feeling tears of frustration begin to prickle at the corners of her eyes. She was tired, still more than a bit off-balance from the things she had learned about her seal earlier that day, and all in all really wasn't in any sort of mood to deal with something like this.

"Hey, it's okay," Ino said quietly, flipping herself over the back of the sofa and walking over to sit down at the table next to Sakura. She frowned a little as she slipped a comforting arm around Sakura's shoulders. "Of course I want to know what's going on, especially if it's something bad, but it's not your fault if you can't tell me. You're just lucky I'm not Shikamaru; not much interests him, but when something does, he never gives up on it."

"But it's something you _should_ know," Sakura murmured, smiling in spite of herself at her friend's attempt to cheer her up. "I'll ask Kakashi-sensei tomorrow and see if he can talk to your jounin-sensei. Maybe he's just waiting until we all get together for the group training sessions."

Sakura fought the urge to giggle at the way Ino's face scrunched up in confusion. "Group training sessions?" the blonde girl echoed, then waved her free hand dismissively. "Never mind, but this one I'm definitely going to ask Asuma-sensei about. I'll just say you mentioned it to me offhand."

"Which is completely true," Sakura replied, then yawned deeply. "Sorry, Ino-chan," she apologized. "Kakashi-sensei really wore us out today, though, and now I'm all full and getting sleepy."

"'night, Sakura-chan," Ino said, laughing as she grabbed the last dumpling and popped it in her mouth. Standing up, she walked over to the door, then paused and turned around. "Oh, and you really should lock your door, you know. Otherwise some innocent bystander might come in and suffer a messy death by kitchen utensil."

Sakura pillowed her head on her arms, which were crossed on the table in front of her, and groaned. "Good _night_, Ino-chan," she muttered, even as her eyes drifted shut.

- - -

Author's Notes: Thank you all for your reviews of the previous chapter! This one took longer to finish than I had expected, unfortunately, but I neglected to take into account the dreaded after-vacation work pileup. Thankfully, things are somewhat back to normal now, and I have a bit more free time on my hands. With any luck, there won't be any more delays quite this long between future chapter updates.

This chapter sees Sakura make an understandable--but incorrect--assumption about what the Kyuubi would have done if it had been sealed in Naruto; for those of you who might be wondering how/if it relates to canon, I did want to clarify that she was mistaken. The canon-compliant explanation is that the Kyuubi was more willing to lend its power to Naruto precisely because it had been doing so for so many years, causing it to grow more tolerant of the idea, while this Kyuubi had been imprisoned for all that time in the metaphysical equivalent of a bank vault. Hopefully that explains some of the things people had been wondering about for the past few chapters; it's not really relevant in the context of this story (hence this note, rather than an in-character explanation), but I thought it might be interesting nonetheless.

As always, thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!


	14. Thirteen: Battle in the Forest

_It's far too early in the morning_, Sakura decided, _to have to put up with things like this_. All of the rookie genin were gathered together at what she had come to think of as Team Seven's bridge, waiting for their jounin-sensei to arrive, and she was struck by how little seemed to have changed from their time at the academy. Granted, it had only been a few months since they all graduated, but she supposed that she had still expected some dramatic change now that they were all together for the first time as real ninja rather than students.

Shikamaru was asleep, slumped up against the bridge's railing and looking like he was about to fall in the river at any moment, while Naruto, Hinata, Ino, and Chouji talked quietly nearby, punctuated by the occasional burst of laughter. The three members of Team Eight were standing together as well—about as far away from Sakura's friends as possible while still remaining on the bridge, she noticed—but they barely spoke to each other, and she wondered whether that was because they disliked each other or because they simply had nothing to say at the moment.

_Not that I'm one to talk about being sociable_, she scolded herself. After Kakashi's bland non-response to her question about whether she could—or should—tell Ino about Orochimaru and the chuunin exams, Sakura had been avoiding her friends for the past few days. While much of that had been because she simply felt too tired to spend any time with them, she couldn't deny that the fact that she possessed more information than they did made her feel a bit uncomfortable around them. It was something she would have to get used to, she knew, from both perspectives, but for the time being it was enough to make her want to keep her distance.

With any luck, that would be changing today. Kakashi had told them yesterday that they would have their first joint training exercise with the other teams today, and surely the entire situation would have to be explained beforehand. Unfortunately, the other two jounin-sensei seemed to have acquired Kakashi's habit of tardiness, leading to her own annoyed mood as she glanced at her watch and noted that they were now a full hour late.

She was also starting to get an uneasy crawling feeling on the back of her neck, as though someone was staring at her, and she glanced around as she tried to see if anything was obviously out of place. If Orochimaru did have spies within the Leaf, what was stopping him or them from striking before the exams started if given the right opportunity—like all of his targets conveniently gathered together in one place? Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Shino's posture stiffen slightly, though it was hard to tell given his concealing clothing, followed by his teammates' as he flashed a quick series of hand-symbols to them.

_His insects_, Sakura realized. Whatever she was feeling, he must have picked up on as well through them, and she felt her early-morning sleepiness melt away as she readied herself for a possible fight. Forcing herself to remain outwardly calm, she wandered over to where her friends were standing.

"Hinata-chan," she quietly said, tapping her teammate on the shoulder, "can you take a look around? Something feels strange, and I think Shino noticed it too."

Hinata nodded and closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, they bore the telltale signs of her activated bloodline ability. The others noticed as well, but Sakura shook her head minutely, hoping to get the message across to remain casual. The sign language Shino had used would have been very convenient right then, and she made a note to ask Kakashi if he could teach them something like it.

"Three, about twenty meters away," Hinata murmured, bringing Sakura's attention back to more immediately important matters. "Five o'clock angle, mostly hidden behind some rocks not far from the river bank." Then, more loudly, she called out, "You can come out now, Kakashi-sensei. Um…and Kurenai-san and Asuma-san, too."

Sakura felt a wave of relief wash over her when she heard that. While she had not really expected to be attacked in the middle of the village, even the possibility made her nervous. She supposed she should have expected the three jounin-sensei to do something like this, though, and she wondered how long they had been there before she or Shino noticed anything.

"One and a half minutes," Kakashi pronounced, appearing in a puff of smoke. Sakura winced; he did not sound pleased, and, while they appeared content to let him speak, the other two jounin who appeared with him managed to radiate disapproval as well.

"It took nearly a full minute before any of you even realized someone was watching you," he continued. "In that time, we could have disabled or killed all of you. Your reaction time after that was acceptable—barely—but we'll be working on your situational awareness from now on."

The female jounin standing next to him nodded. "That goes double for my team," she said. "You've gotten lazy, relying on Shino-kun's kikai insects to set up a perimeter, but they can be fooled in a number of ways. Most people won't bother to use those countermeasures, but you can't just assume that will be the case."

"Understood, Kurenai-sensei," the three members of Team Eight said, though Sakura thought Kiba sounded a bit sulky. Between his sunglasses and the high collar of his coat, Shino's expression was impossible to make out, while Sasuke was frowning—not that that was anything unusual. Still, she couldn't help but be impressed at the way they seemed to coordinate among themselves, especially when she remembered what Ino had said about their lack of teamwork at first.

The third jounin stepped forward a little ways, then sighed. "Chouji-kun," he said, an air of long-suffering patience entering his voice, "please wake up your teammate. Feel free to be as unpleasant as you—"

His voice cut off abruptly as he froze in place, and Sakura noticed with a tiny grin that his motionless shadow was touching the one cast by the bridge railing—into which he had just stepped, apparently not noticing that the angle of the sun was completely wrong for such a shadow to exist. At the same time, Shikamaru opened his eyes and gave a satisfied smirk. "Check, Asuma-sensei," he said, nodding once at his handiwork.

"Well, at least you're not completely hopeless," Asuma replied, though Sakura could hear the satisfaction in his voice that belied his indifferent words. "I know Ino-kun will tell you everything later, assuming you bother to listen to her, but try to at least pretend like you're paying attention."

Looking around, Sakura saw that both Chouji and Ino were wearing long-suffering expressions. Apparently this was fairly normal for Team Ten, and Sakura smiled at them sympathetically. As she watched, Shikamaru released his shadow bind, then stood up and moved over to join the other members of his team with a great show of reluctance.

"Now that all of that has been taken care of for now, here is what you'll be doing for your first exercise," Kakashi said, again capturing everyone's attention. "This scenario comes from the first organized chuunin examination following the war with the Rock, and it is based on an actual engagement from that war.

"A team of Leaf ninja managed to infiltrate a Rock command post and steal the codebook containing that month's master cipher keys. Upon discovering the theft, the Rock sent a hunter team after the Leaf ninja, while the Cloud—nominally allies of the Rock during that war—sent a team of their own. Supposedly they were there as support, but it was revealed later that they had orders to bring the codebook back to Cloud while reporting it destroyed."

Sakura frowned, puzzled slightly by something he had said. "Kakashi-sensei, couldn't the Rock just have issued new codes?" she asked, then blushed as she realized she had interrupted his explanation.

"Of course," Kakashi replied, "but it takes time to get the new codes distributed to everyone—not to mention the problem of trying to get them to infiltration teams deep within enemy territory, who happen to be the people most at risk from a compromised system. Also, Rock codes at that time followed a repeating cycle, which was something the Cloud knew but we didn't."

Off to her side, Sakura heard Sasuke make a tiny scoffing noise. "So they were going to double-cross their allies and hope they would be able to crack future codes using the stolen book," he said, his frown even more pronounced than usual. "That just proves that you'd have to be stupid to trust anyone."

"Back on topic," Kakashi said, a warning tone appearing in his voice, "each team will assume the role of one of the historical teams, with the same goals that team had. For the Rock: recover or destroy the codebook and kill anyone who came into contact with it. For the Cloud: recover the codebook without drawing the attention of the Rock. For the Leaf: defend your position until backup arrives."

"Eh?" Naruto asked, the confused expression on his face echoed by most of the other genin. "Shouldn't the Leaf ninja just be trying to get away?"

"The Leaf team was forced to go to ground in an abandoned estate after their planned extraction route was cut off by enemy troop movements," Kurenai cut in smoothly, surprising Sakura. "Without updated maps, they would likely have run straight into the main Rock army, so they had to wait for assistance from another team sent in to contact them. Thus demonstrating that sometimes you have no _choice_ but to trust others," she finished, looking pointedly at Sasuke.

Sakura was astonished to see the Uchiha genin snort, then almost grudgingly nod his acceptance. Beside him, Kiba just rolled his eyes, as though this was something that happened on a frequent basis. Then again, she thought, maybe it did; at least their jounin-sensei seemed to have some idea of how to force Sasuke to realize that he might not be right all the time, which was more than most of the teachers at the academy had been able to do.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Now, for the team assignments," he said. "Team Seven will play the Leaf, Team Eight will play the Rock, and Team Ten will play the Cloud. See your jounin-sensei for specifics—and an explanation of the _entire_ situation," he added, giving Asuma a pointed look. "The exercise begins this evening at six."

- - -

As Hinata inspected the exterior of the abandoned house that her team would be occupying for the duration of the exercise, she frowned unhappily. They had four hours to fortify the area before the start of the exercise, and Kakashi had said they would need to be able to defend themselves for twelve hours after that. That was a long time to stay in one place, especially once the hunter teams tracked them down, and she had a nasty suspicion about which team had succeeded historically.

"Oi, Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled to her, leaning out of a second-floor window. "Come up here and take a look at this. I think I've found a good watch post for you."

Hinata winced at his volume; they were quite a ways outside of the village, but she had no idea how far away the other teams would be starting, and it wasn't impossible for someone—or, more accurately, a certain someone's canine companion—to have heard him. The last thing she wanted to do was give away their position so early. Waving to show that she had heard him, she went back inside the house and headed upstairs to see what he wanted to show her. Along the way she passed Sakura, who was sitting in the foyer and doing something with a disturbingly large number of explosive tags.

"Do you know what she's doing?" she asked Naruto when she found him, crouched over and apparently checking sight lines between the doors and windows of the various rooms.

Naruto shrugged as he stood up. "Not a clue," he said. "She just asked me for thirty of my tags, but I'm not sure why she wanted them. The look on her face was kind of scary, actually."

"Sakura-chan, scary?" Hinata asked, not sure she had heard him correctly. "As in, our friend who blushes pinker than her hair if she even _thinks_ she might have bothered someone?"

"Like you're one to talk," Naruto muttered, causing Hinata to curse to herself as she felt her cheeks flush, amply proving his point. "But…good-scary, not bad-scary," he added hastily, before she could get too upset with him. "You know how she is sometimes when she's got an idea."

Hinata nodded. Sakura really could get a bit intense when she was working out a plan, and the funniest part—at least from her teammates' perspective—was that she didn't even seem to realize it. Somehow, Hinata found herself unsurprised that that side of her friend had chosen now to appear; in many ways, Sakura had the most to prove in this exercise, both to her former classmates and to herself.

"Come on," Naruto said, tugging her arm insistently so she would follow him. "This place has some sort of attic or something, and it would be a perfect place for you to stay. It doesn't have any windows, but that shouldn't be a problem for you, and that way we might be able to catch them off guard if they don't see anyone keeping watch."

"Maybe," Hinata said. "It depends on how thick the walls are at that height; I checked, and I can't see through the ones on the ground floor. And the other teams know about my byakugan too, so they'll probably be expecting something like that."

_Not to mention I'm not sure how long I can keep the byakugan activated without running out of chakra_, she thought to herself. She had never left her bloodline ability active for more than ten or so minutes at a time, and she very definitely did not want to run out of chakra in the middle of a fight because she had burned through her reserves beforehand.

"Oh, good point," Naruto sighed, sounding disappointed. "I should've thought of that. Anyways, let's go back downstairs before Sakura blows up the house and we lose by default."

"Not to mention…oh, being hospitalized, or dying," Hinata said dryly, though not without a bit of worry as well. She didn't really think Sakura would blow them all up…at least not on purpose, but she _had_ seemed awfully interested in Kakashi's lectures on traps.

"I'm not blowing anything up!" Sakura called up from the bottom of the steps to them. A moment later, she somewhat sheepishly added, "Well, at least not yet. Come here, I want to show you something."

'_Yet'?_ Sakura mouthed to Naruto, who shrugged and gave her a helpless grin. Rolling her eyes at him, she headed downstairs to find Sakura still sitting in the foyer, leaned up against the side of the staircase. Around her were innumerable scraps of paper; it took Hinata a few moments to realize that they were all pieces of explosive tags, and furthermore that the larger sheets of paper piled next to Sakura seemed to have the remaining portions of the mutilated tags glued to them.

"Aaagh! My tags!" Naruto wailed, looking like he was about to start crying at the sight of so many perfectly good explosive tags in ruins. "What did you do to them, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura grinned widely, looking happier—in a scary sort of way; Naruto was definitely right about that—than Hinata had seen her in quite a while. "Just a second," she hummed, picking up one of the sheets of paper and sticking it to the back of a particularly ratty-looking chair in the next room over. "I think you'll like this surprise, Naruto-kun."

Hinata shared a long, worried look with Naruto, beginning to wonder if the stress of preparing for the chuunin exams had done something to Sakura's brain. That was the only explanation for how utterly _bizarre_ their teammate was acting; it was almost like she was being possessed by Ino, but, Yamanaka family mind-swap technique or no, Hinata somehow doubted that was the case at the moment.

"And now…" Sakura trailed off dramatically, holding up another, larger sheet of paper with a number of little black dots pasted onto it. She touched one of the dots, causing it to glow blue with chakra, and at the same time Hinata saw an echoing blue glow begin to spread over the surface of the paper stuck to the chair. Several seconds later, the chair's back blew apart in a shower of cushioning, fabric, and wooden splinters, accompanied by the sharp double retort of two explosive tags detonating simultaneously.

Her ears still ringing from the force of the explosion, Hinata looked over at Naruto to see him staring at Sakura as though he was ready to fall to his knees and begin worshipping her. "Remote-controlled explosive tags," he breathed, a silly grin appearing on his face. "I always wanted to try some of those, but they're so expensive and hard to find in the stores."

"It really wasn't that hard to figure out," Sakura murmured, though instead of the blush Hinata expected to see on her face, she looked more disappointed than anything. "I think I messed up, though. They weren't supposed to make that big of an explosion. I should have known something would go wrong even though I didn't really create the seal, just modified a few existing ones."

"Are you crazy? That's even better!" Naruto exclaimed. "_Supercharged_ remote-controlled explosive tags…what more could you ask for?" He squatted down and began riffling through the stack of papers, his grin growing a bit wider with each sheet he counted.

Sakura sighed as she looked at the ruined chair. "If we were on a real mission, sure," she said, "but we're not. An explosion that big could really hurt someone, and this is just a training exercise. Just…forget about it. I'm sorry I wasted your tags."

Hinata felt a surge of anger go through her as she watched her now-despondent teammate slump to the floor. "Stop it!" she blurted out, before her mind had a chance to catch up to her mouth. "Stop being so hard on yourself, Sakura-chan! It makes me so mad when you do something like this and then only see whatever you did wrong instead of everything you did right.

"It's like…it's like you don't even realize how incredible you can be sometimes," she finished softly. "I know I don't act much better sometimes, but…just, please stop." Feeling herself beginning to turn scarlet with embarrassment, she dropped to the floor as well, pulling her knees up and hiding her face behind them. She wasn't sure what had prompted her to yell at Sakura like that, and she didn't want to have to see the shock and dismay on her teammate's faces.

To her astonishment, though, she heard Naruto say, "Hinata-chan's right, you know. Even if we couldn't use them now, they'd still come in handy on future missions. Besides, this just makes them easier to hide. If we bury them a foot or two underneath the ground, the explosion won't be so dangerous, and nobody will ever know they're there until we set them off. You're _brilliant_, Sakura-chan."

Hinata peeked over her knees to see Naruto crouched down next to Sakura, whose face was completely hidden behind her bangs. "Thanks," she murmured after a while, though her eyes remained downcast. "And…I'm sorry, Hinata-chan. You're right too. It's hard, though, when it's so easy to see the mistakes."

_I know how you feel_, Hinata thought sympathetically, her brief flash of anger now completely gone. Unfolding her legs, she stood up and stretched, then offered Naruto a hand up as well.

"Come on," she told him. "Let's go see if we can find some good places to put these. Is there any sort of range limit on them?"

Sakura shook her head once, then paused for a moment and nodded uncertainly. "I'm sure there is," she said, beginning to sound more like she normally did now that she had a problem to solve. "I don't know how far, though. It would depend on how much chakra you use to charge the remote seal, I think."

"Naruto-kun can be the one responsible for setting them off, then," Hinata said, prompting a grin from her blond teammate and a brief giggle from Sakura. "I'm sure he won't mind."

"How _did_ you figure this out, anyways?" Naruto asked, cocking his head curiously. "I wasn't joking when I said remote-triggered explosive tags are expensive, and I doubt they'd just put the secret to making them in a book somewhere."

Finally, to Hinata's great relief, Sakura looked up at them. "It was actually something I read in you—um…in some notes the Hokage has been showing me," she said, her cheeks acquiring a light pink tone as she blushed under Naruto's inquisitive gaze.

"They said something about chakra resonance between two identical seals, so I thought if I…oh, forget about the details," she sighed, apparently noticing his blank expression. "I read the basic idea in a scroll and figured out how to make it work with the fuse seals on the tags, sort of. They're not as good as the real ones you'd buy in a store, though"

"Got it," Naruto said, giving her a cheerful grin before turning to head out the door, the bundle of explosive sheets in his hand. "Let's go, Hinata-chan. Maybe Sakura-chan will figure out an even better way to blow things up by the time we get back. She's still got another two hours before our prep time is up, after all."

Hinata heaved a long-suffering sigh and followed him outside, but not before she noticed the tiny smile Sakura gave her. Perhaps it hadn't been such a mistake to say what she had after all.

- - -

"Ready?" Ino whispered. She was crouched behind a bush next to Shikamaru, downwind of Team Eight and—apparently, at least—out of Shino's bugs' detection range. It had been a stroke of purest luck that put them in this position rather than upwind of the enemy team or directly in their path, and she intended to take full advantage of it. Even Shikamaru seemed almost excited, or at the very least moderately interested in what was going on; she hadn't had to grab his arm and drag him behind her even once yet, which was practically a miracle.

He still sighed, though, but she was used to that. "For the sixth time, yes," he said, not taking his eyes off of their prey. "We can't do anything until Chouji goes, so you can go bother him if you're in a hurry."

"Fine, be that way," Ino muttered, though inwardly she rejoiced at her success. An annoyed Shikamaru was much less likely to fall asleep and ruin their timing than a bored Shikamaru was, though she doubted that even he could manage to fall asleep at a time like this. Still, poking fun at him was a favorite hobby of hers, and it definitely beat thinking about the reason they were doing all this in the first place.

While she couldn't manage to be angry with Sakura for not telling her about what was expected to happen at the chuunin exams—she had only to remember how upset her friend had seemed when they talked to know that it hadn't been Sakura's choice—she was absolutely furious with Asuma for concealing it from her team for this long. It was bad enough that they didn't have a choice in the matter, but the secrecy made it even worse. Frowning, she forced herself to concentrate on the mission; her father had warned her that her temper could wind up being a liability, and she had no desire to prove him right.

After what seemed like a small eternity, she heard a distant rumbling noise, accompanied by the snapping sound of tree branches breaking. The rumbling quickly grew louder, and she grinned as she saw the members of Team Eight halt and look around. On Kiba's shoulder, his little white dog began barking excitedly despite his attempts to hush it. The three boys exchanged glances, then spread out into a classic triangular defensive pattern after a quick series of hand signals.

_Perfect_, Ino thought, her grin turning feral. _Now, as long as—yes!_ she exulted. Chouji, in full Human Bullet Tank form, came rolling directly through the center of the enemy formation, clipping Shino and sending him stumbling into one of the many patches of dim sunlight shining down through the tree branches. As Kiba and Sasuke gave chase, neither noticed their teammate's shadow lengthen and freeze in place.

Quietly—not that it made any real difference given the amount of noise Chouji was making—Ino murmured, "Shintenshin no Jutsu," and was enveloped in the still-bizarre sensation of her spirit sliding out of her body and, at what seemed to be a snail's pace, floating across the empty air towards where Shino was struggling against her teammate's shadow binding.

_Faster! Faster!_ she urged herself, knowing that Shikamaru would have trouble holding someone for long at this distance. As she glanced back over her ethereal shoulder, she saw sweat begin to trickle down his face, even as he supported her own limp body with one arm. Then she was to Shino, melting inside him with a brief surge of dizziness at the change in perspective, and she sighed in relief. Somewhere deep inside, like a fly's insistent buzzing, she could feel Shino's own mind trying to fight back, but it paled in comparison to the queasy crawling sensation she could feel all over her temporary body.

She had no idea how Shino, or anyone else, could possibly stand feeling like this all the time. Knowing that hundreds of bugs were moving around inside her gave her the chills, and she found herself wishing she had been able to persuade Shikamaru to go after one of the other two. She didn't mind the difference in sex, but the bugs…she could literally feel her skin crawl, and she gave a silent prayer of thanks when Shikamaru broke his shadow bind, allowing her to run—well, stumble, as she still had some problems with her balance while occupying a boy's body—back to their hiding place.

"On three," she said, unbuttoning Shino's collar and leaning over her own body to reduce the distance she would have to travel after releasing her technique. "One…two…three!" As her lips formed the last word, she quickly dove out of Shino's body and back into her own, the double blurring sensation causing her stomach to churn with nausea as she found herself now looking up at Shino's emotionless visage. Shikamaru had a practice kunai pressed against his throat, and he fell to the ground unceremoniously with two ink marks slashed across either side of his neck.

Ino stood up and stretched—for some reason, the body-switching technique always left her with sore muscles, even if she was only out of her own body for a few moments—as Shikamaru resheathed his kunai. Chouji should have been able to get away from the other two members of Team Eight by now, which meant that they would be coming back to look for their teammate at any moment. Fortunately, his 'corpse' was hidden well enough by the bush that it would take them some time to locate it, especially as there were no signs of struggle to point them in the right direction.

Still, it was time to head out and meet up with Chouji at the arranged location. With Shino gone and any luck whatsoever, Teams Eight and Seven would end up killing each other off, leaving a fully-intact and prepared Team Ten to seize the codebook. It was at times like this that Ino found herself truly appreciating her teammates—even, grudgingly, Shikamaru's lazy streak that led him to find the easiest path to victory. Not that she would ever tell him that, of course.

- - -

_Damn them_, Sasuke swore to himself, furious at his own inattention. He had been tricked like some pitiful academy student, and while he might not care for his teammates overly much, it reflected badly on him if he allowed anything to happen to them. Team Ten had made him look like a fool, made him look _weak_, and that was utterly unbearable. To make matters worse, they had just had to 'kill' the more useful—not to mention tolerable—of his teammates. While he disliked having teammates at all, he had to admit that Shino was about as compatible a choice as he could have wished for.

"Find them," Sasuke flatly told his other teammate, who was decidedly _not_ someone he would have chosen to be on his team. Still, Kiba did have his uses. "They must have used up significant amounts of chakra with this trap, so if we attack now, we can catch them while they're weak."

As he watched Kiba communicate with his tiny animal companion, he fought the urge to take off by himself. If nothing else, though, he had learned over the past few months that being the strongest in a fight counted for little when faced with situations that did not involve fighting—not to mention that the preparation for a battle could be as important as the battle itself. It was a simple lesson, perhaps, yet one he had somehow failed to consider until his jounin-sensei, upon learning of his goal, had asked, _'And how will you _find_ him?'_

At first Sasuke had been infuriated with her presumption, but as his reason overcame his emotions, he was forced to admit that she was correct. That was when he first considered that perhaps his unwanted teammates might actually be able to help him. Over the past several weeks, he had even gained a certain amount of respect for them in some regards, though he still maintained that they would only get in his way in an actual fight.

"Akamaru says he can only smell two of them," Kiba said—quietly, for a change; it was a relief to discover that he could contain himself when necessary. "The trail goes off towards where Shino-kun said the old abandoned house is."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke paused to think. _Could it have been Team Seven that killed Shino?_ he wondered. He had assumed Team Ten had set up the attack, but it was possible that Team Seven had been patrolling and simply taken advantage of the situation. Leaving one team member to guard their base and sending the other two to scout was foolish in his opinion, but it seemed like the sort of reckless action that his rival would have taken.

"Do you know who they were?" he asked. He knew the older Inuzuka's companions could distinguish between individual human scents with incredible accuracy, as they had often assisted the Uchiha police in criminal cases, but he had no idea if Akamaru was capable of such things yet.

After a few more muted exchanges of barks and whimpers, Kiba shook his head. "One male, one female, that's all he can tell. Maybe if he had something to compare the scents to, but on his own…" He trailed off, growling in frustration.

_So, it could have been either team._ Sasuke's frown grew even more pronounced. Given the parameters of the exercise, it was even possible—though unlikely—that the other two teams had temporarily joined forces. His team was the only one with actual kill orders, after all, and the others could perhaps have found a way to compromise. Knowing their weakness compared to him, it almost made sense that they might try something like that.

"Forget it," he snorted, shaking his head. "Come on, let's find that house. No more talking…they might have scouts out." That was another thing Kurenai had insisted they learn, and after she demonstrated just how easy it was to track down a group of people by sound alone—not to mention the possible consequences of being overheard—even Sasuke had taken to learning basic hand signals with impressive dedication. He was interested in anything that made working with other people less of a liability, since it seemed he had no choice but to do so.

Kiba nodded once and, after placing Akamaru back inside his coat, followed him out of the small clearing. Sasuke could tell that his teammate was angry as well, but fortunately he seemed to have it under control. They couldn't be far from the house where Team Seven was waiting, and while Sasuke knew he was better than they were, he could not help but feel a reluctant respect for two of them. Caution would be required, and perhaps even his teammate would be of some assistance; if nothing else, Kiba could quickly finish the weak one, Haruno Sakura, and provide some sort of distraction while he himself dealt with the other two.

_Yes, that's a good plan,_ he thought. Perhaps Kurenai was correct; it seemed there were advantages to having teammates after all, even in a fight—provided they stayed out of his way when necessary.

- - -

"Someone's coming!" Hinata called over her shoulder as she watched a blurry figure move towards the abandoned house where she and her teammates were hiding. She had been making quick sweeps of the clearing around the house every few minutes for the past several hours, and to her relief, she was feeling only a light strain on her chakra reserves from her byakugan usage so far. The person was right at the edge of her enhanced vision, so she couldn't make out many details through the intervening trees and brush, but she thought it was too large to be anyone except Chouji. As it drew closer, though, she saw it was actually two people close together, and she frowned when she managed to identify them.

"It's Team Eight," she told Naruto, who had come over to stand next to her. "Only Kiba and Sasuke, though. I don't see Shino anywhere."

The unhappy expression on Naruto's face matched her own. "That's not good," he said, staring out the window as though he was trying to search for the absent genin. "He's really good at tactics, and those bugs of his can do a lot of stuff. They must be trying to set up a trap or something."

"He's not anywhere nearby, though," Hinata said. "I'd see _something_ if he was; human chakra stands out compared to trees and animals." She took another look around, but except for her own team, the other two genin were the only people within range of her eyesight.

"It's possible that he's trailing the other team," Sakura offered, joining them at the window. "With two trackers, maybe they decided to split up and keep an eye on both of their opponents."

An uncertain look appeared on the pink-haired girl's face, though, and she shook her head slowly. "No," she continued, almost talking to herself, "that doesn't make sense. We can't move from here, so if they were going to split up, they should have sent only one person to find us and then rejoin the others."

"Could they have already run into Team Ten?" Hinata asked. She couldn't see any obvious signs of injury on either of the two approaching genin, though, and she found it hard to believe that they could have finished off Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji while only losing Shino. Sasuke was very skilled, though, and she wouldn't put it past Shino to have come up with an effective ambush plan, so it was possible.

"Dunno," Naruto said, "but they're almost to the first set of traps, so I don't think we have time to figure it out." He pointed out the window as two shadowy figures seemed to detach themselves from the treeline and move stealthily forward. If not for the glow of their chakra, Hinata could easily have missed seeing them against the backdrop the evening near-darkness created.

Sakura shook her head. "You didn't put any explosives near that area," she said after looking at the crude map Naruto had drawn up. "The closest is by this…squiggle, whatever that is." She made a face, then handed the map to Naruto.

"But if they're not careful, they're going to trip the shuriken—yes!" Naruto exclaimed as they heard a metallic ringing noise. Hinata permitted herself a smile at the trap's success, but she doubted it had done more than annoy whichever of the enemy genin it had hit. Unfortunately, all of the truly nasty traps were positioned to defend the approaches to the front and rear doors of the house, leaving the side windows relatively unprotected.

_Then again_, she thought, sighing as she watched one figure—probably Sasuke—disarm a second trap before the other could trigger it, _it wasn't like we were really expecting we could just sit back and relax, I guess._ At least the traps were forcing the attackers to go slowly rather than rush the house.

"Ready, Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked. He cracked open the window and waited for her to lift herself up and slip through the opening, followed by Sakura, before closing it behind them. A short distance away, a circular sealing diagram was drawn on the dirt, and Hinata stepped carefully into it and crouched down as low as she could.

"Remember, don't make any noise," Sakura whispered to her, placing her hand over one of the seal's symbols. "Now…Fuuinjutsu: Shiryoku Fun'in."

A dim blue glow spread over the surface of the diagram, washing the area inside it with a peculiar radiance. As Sakura had explained earlier, the area encompassed by the Diverting Eyesight seal was not truly invisible—a much more difficult technique—but most people's gazes would simply pass over it as unimportant. The Uchiha sharingan would not be fooled by the seal's effect, and anyone with extensive practice in breaking genjutsu might notice something unusual, but other than that it was practically foolproof. Even her own byakugan would only see an unusually high concentration of chakra in the vicinity of the seal.

As Hinata watched Sakura climb back through the window Naruto opened for her, though, she felt a twinge of worry; their plan depended on her remaining undetected, but it was possible that Kiba or his dog would be able to pick up her scent, and she doubted she could hold both Kiba and Sasuke off long enough for her teammates to help her. They had discussed that possibility, but in the end they had been unable to come up with any better ideas.

_And so here I sit_, she thought to herself, wishing she could move enough to rub her arms. It was quite cold now that night had fallen, and she had only brought her light jacket with her. Sakura had kept the seal's area small, though, in order to conserve chakra, meaning that Hinata could not move without risking making herself visible outside of its boundaries. Judging by the two enemy genin's swift pace as they made their way around or, occasionally, through the various traps she and her teammates had set up, at least she would not have to wait for long.

Hinata held her breath as she watched them come closer, anxiously waiting for the first sign that one of them had noticed her presence. When Kiba stopped for a few moments and looked around suspiciously, she felt her heart freeze within her, and she had to clamp her hands over her mouth to keep from breathing out a sigh of relief as he shook his head and moved on. Soon, the two boys were crouched directly underneath the window from which she had exited.

As she watched, Kiba unzipped his coat a bit, allowing a small white canine head to pop up over the collar. At the same time, Sasuke raised his hand and held up three fingers before curling them back down again. The meaning was obvious, even if she didn't know the meaning of the rest of their furtive hand signals, and she shut off her byakugan and clenched her eyes tightly shut in preparation for what she knew was about to happen.

Several seconds later, she heard the quiet scrape of the window being forced open, followed by the sounds of one of the attackers levering himself through the narrow gap. Nearly simultaneously, a loud pop—quieter than an explosive tag going off, but seemingly deafening in the nighttime stillness—sounded from inside the house, and even through her closed eyelids she could see a brilliant light flood the area outside the window. She almost felt sorry for whichever of the two of them had gone inside and suffered the full effect of Naruto's technique, but she pushed that feeling aside; it was her turn to strike now.

Hinata opened her eyes and uncoiled from her crouch, activating her byakugan as she stood. In front of her, she saw Kiba, still crouched beside the window and staring up at it in shock. Undoubtedly his night vision was completely ruined for the next few minutes, but his back was to her, so it would not have mattered in any event. She heard his dog give a warning bark as she slipped up behind him on silent feet, but it was too late. Even as he started to turn towards her, her hands were already reaching out to close the tenketsu in his legs and arms, and he collapsed to the ground a moment later, paralyzed.

Carefully making sure she was _not_ putting any chakra into her hand, she placed the tips of her fingers on the center of Kiba's chest, directly over his heart. Her meaning was clear, and, his face a study in displeasure, he nodded once. She couldn't help but smile when his dog, seeming to catch its master's mood, whined quietly and licked his chin. Taking pity on him—the position in which he was lying had to be uncomfortable—she again tapped the tenketsu she had closed, this time forcing a tiny amount of chakra into them.

"The effects of your closed tenketsu should begin to wear off soon now," Hinata told him coolly, hoping he could not hear in her voice how nervous she had been and still was. "You're still dead, though." With that, she turned and grabbed the window ledge, lifting herself up through the narrow opening. She wished that the exterior walls of the house were thin enough for her to be able to see what was going on inside, as, while she had every confidence in her teammates, Sasuke had not been the best in their class for nothing.

Much to her relief, the dim lighting of the room inside revealed Naruto and Sakura standing alertly just far enough back from the window that she would have been unable to attack them as she climbed in. Both were holding kunai, and their faces lit up in matching grins as they saw her.

"Watch it," Naruto said cheerfully. "Don't step on Sasuke." He pointed to her feet, dangling over the window sill, and she looked down to see a quietly furious Sasuke glaring up at her—or at the place where he thought she was, at least; she doubted that his eyesight had had a chance to return yet. Red ink marks from practice kunai and shuriken were liberally spattered across the front of his shirt, providing graphic evidence of his 'death'.

Carefully making sure not to land on the irate Uchiha, Hinata jumped down from the window and walked over to her teammates. "Kiba is out," she said. "I still don't see Shino anywhere, so I guess he must be out as well. I'm going to go check the rest of the perimeter, though, just in case he's trying to come around from behind."

Naruto nodded, and she walked out of the large side room and down a narrow hallway. Fortunately, all of the rooms in the old house possessed an abundance of windows, making it fairly easy for her to take advantage of her bloodline ability despite the thick stone walls making up the exterior.

_Nothing to the south_, Hinata thought, glancing through the windows of what must have been a beautifully decorated parlor at one time. Continuing along the hallway, she came to the rear door of the house, and she frowned as she noticed it was slightly ajar. She knew there was nobody inside the house who shouldn't be there, as the interior walls were thin enough to see through, but she was certain the door had been firmly closed when she last came this way. While a quick look through it revealed nothing amiss, something seemed very wrong with the situation, and she decided to go back to get Naruto and Sakura.

As she turned away, though, she caught the barest glimpse of movement on the edge of her blind spot, and she felt herself freeze in place before she could turn to see more clearly. Disgusted by her carelessness, she could only watch helplessly as Chouji opened the door, revealing Shikamaru standing just to the side. From that position, concealed from her sight by the exterior wall, he had sent his shadow—cast by a lantern Ino was holding up next to him—through the barely-open door and trapped her.

_We were so stupid to assume he wouldn't be able to use his techniques at night_, Hinata had time to think before the meaty fist descending towards her head made everything turn black.

- - -

"Well, at least we didn't exactly _lose_," Naruto sighed, kicking at a loose rock as the three members of Team Seven walked back to the village together.

At any other time, Sakura probably would have appreciated his attempt to be optimistic, but being held prisoner by her own shadow and 'tortured' until she revealed the location of the codebook had put her in something of a sour mood. Ino _knew_ how much she hated being tickled, and frankly, she thought even her own teammates had taken a bit too much amusement in the sight of her writhing on the floor in helpless fits of 'pain'.

She had gotten her revenge, though; after retrieving the book, Team Ten had headed out the front door of the house and straight through a group of three buried mines. Since they had neglected to finish her off after the mock-torture session, Sakura obligingly detonated all of those mines, resulting in a truly satisfying series of explosions, three very scorched, bruised, and mud-splattered genin—she was a bit afraid of what Ino would do to her the next time they met—and the ignomious conclusion of the exercise. The end result, mutual annihilation, promised to earn all three teams scathing lectures the next day, though she held out a faint hope that Kakashi would be interested enough in her trick with the makeshift mines that he might let them off easy.

_Not a chance_, she decided a moment later. If the situation was serious enough that Kakashi had even stopped reading his books during training sessions, there was no way a bit of tinkering with explosive tags would be enough to distract him.

"We'll still be just as dead if we 'don't exactly lose' like that during the real thing," Hinata said, her defeated tone causing Sakura to look at her in alarm. She was taking their failure harder than either of the other two, and Sakura wished she knew why. Without her, they wouldn't have done even close to as well as they had, but she seemed to feel she had let them down somehow.

On Hinata's other side, Naruto appeared to have reached the same conclusion, as he looked at her with concern in his eyes. "You did great, Hinata-chan," he said, giving her a more genuine smile than the one he had been wearing previously. "Sakura-chan's ambush plan was good too, and we still did way better than the Leaf team in the mission they got this scenario from."

"It was my fault, though," Hinata said, so quietly Sakura could barely hear her. "I got overconfident because of my bloodline ability and let them trick me. What if…what if something like that happens again and you die for real?"

" 'When you only see whatever you did wrong instead of everything you did right,' hmm, Hinata-chan?" Sakura quoted to her, amused in spite of herself at the irony of the situation. "I think I see what you meant, now. It's just as much my fault for focusing too much on how to beat Team Eight and not enough on Team Ten—or even Naruto-kun's for not being good enough to handle three people at once," she added playfully.

Ignoring Naruto's squawk of indignation, she put her arm around her pale-eyed teammate's shoulders, smiling to herself as Naruto did the same a moment later. "Maybe we did rely too much on your byakugan," she said as they continued to walk, more slowly now, "but at least we know that now and won't make the same mistake again."

"I guess," Hinata said, still sounding somewhat doubtful. "But—"

"Nope, no buts," Naruto interrupted her. "We'll go home, go to bed—well, maybe not yet…actually, my mother will probably make me train some more, but anyways—where was I?"

Sakura giggled. "You were demonstrating why you really do need to go to bed, I think," she said, prompting quiet laughter from Hinata as well. "Now, enough blaming yourself, Hinata-chan—and if _I'm_ saying that, you know I must be right."

"Fine," Hinata replied, pretending to pout. "Go ahead, make sense. I just hope Kakashi-sensei doesn't yell at us too badly."

"He's not really the yelling type," Sakura said, relieved that her friend seemed to be cheering up a bit. "Besides, this was only our first try at this sort of thing. The next one will be better."

_At least, I hope so_, she carefully did not add aloud. The start of the exams was barely a week away now, and the first of the foreign teams would be arriving any day. They were running out of time to prepare, and all of the rookie genin and their jounin-sensei knew it.

- - -

Author's Notes: My thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. I'm somewhat astonished at how long this one ended up, but hopefully that's a good thing; I tried to present a more "sneaky" style of fighting here rather than the all-out battles that are more commonly seen throughout the series, and I hope it still came across as interesting. Also, there's a bit more perspective on the other two teams, in preparation for the chuunin exams where all three will play important roles. Next chapter will see the start of the exams themselves, along with the introduction of everyone's favorite psychotic Sand ninja. Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it!


	15. Fourteen: Close Encounters

_Where is she?_ Naruto wondered, glancing around fruitlessly. The thick, choking fog his opponent had summoned obscured his vision in every direction, to the point where he could barely make out the outline of his own body through it. Worse, the fog seemed to distort any sounds, leaving him disoriented and unsure even of where he himself was, let alone of his opponent's location. He mentally cursed Kakashi for having taught them the Killing Mist technique; for someone who professed not to want to use ninjutsu, Hinata certainly had taken to it readily enough.

He had to get rid of the fog somehow if he wanted to win—that was obvious enough—but the trouble with that idea was that he had no idea how to do so. A wind technique was the obvious answer, but the ones he knew required some sort of focusing device like a fan or rod to help mold the chakra, and he had nothing like that with him at the moment. While he would be sure never to be so unprepared in the future, that didn't help him now.

As Naruto considered his options, he felt the barest flicker of a chakra signature approaching, and he turned to face the direction from which it was coming. Thankfully, Kakashi had yet to teach them the genjutsu he used to hide his chakra, or the situation would have been even more dire than it was already. As it was, though, he needed to think of something quickly. Chakra sensing was enough to tell him that Hinata was nearby, and even approximately where she was, but it wasn't precise enough for anything more than that.

_But what about a technique that doesn't _need _precision?_ he thought. Most wide-area techniques were either wind- or fire-based, and he hadn't learned many of the latter—with one notable exception. Sasuke would probably try to kill him for it, but really, it was the Uchiha's own fault for having used it so often in their sparring matches that Naruto had had a chance to learn it just by watching him.

Drawing in a deep breath, Naruto formed a series of hand seals. Then, placing his hands in front of his mouth, he rapidly exhaled as he called out, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" As he did so, he forced a tiny amount of chakra into his breath—tiny, because this _was_ only a sparring match; he had no desire to actually hurt his best friend—and had to fight to keep from grinning at the massive plume of fire that resulted. The fog thinned for a moment in the wake of the flames, allowing him to make out the barest hint of Hinata's petite figure before closing in again, but now he could hear the distict sound of someone coughing.

"I forfeit!" Hinata called out, her voice through the mist sounding wavery and far away. Another spate of coughing ensued, this one long enough to cause Naruto to begin to worry, but eventually it ceased. A few moments later, the fog began to disperse, and he realized she must have released her technique. As it thinned, he ran over to where he had seen her; she was leaning over, her hands on her knees, and breathing deeply.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked, wondering if he had somehow made a mistake in his technique. He didn't think so—he had practiced it before, in private—but it was always possible.

"I'm fine," she finally managed to say as she straightened up. "A little short of breath, but fine. I didn't know you knew how to do that." Her pale skin was flushed with the barest tinge of red, likely from the heat of his technique, and he caught a faint smell of singed hair—not the most pleasant odor—as she shook her head.

Naruto grinned at her. "Well, you know, I have to have some surprises," he said cheerfully. "Can't let you win all the time, after all."

"More like any of the time," Hinata grumbled under her breath, but she smiled back at him regardless. It was an old argument, and not one either of them ever expected—or, at least for Naruto, wanted—to win. He was the better ninja overall, and they both knew it, but she was entirely capable of demonstrating that 'better' was far from the same thing as 'perfect'.

Naruto felt Kakashi and Sakura approaching, and he looked around to see that the fog Hinata had created was almost gone. Only a few scattered traces of grey obscured their surroundings, the rest of it having evaporated as quickly as it formed.

"Decent match, both of you," Kakashi said as he walked up to the two genin. "Your ninjutsu is showing improvement, Hinata, but you need to work on your tactical flexibility and long-range combat skills. Naruto, your counter technique was well chosen, but you're still reacting more slowly than you should be. Before you practice any more, though, sit down so we can go over last night's exercise."

Wincing at the thought of what Kakashi would say about their performance the previous night, Naruto settled down onto the grass, followed by Hinata and Sakura. They traded nervous glances among each other, then looked up at their jounin-sensei. As always, it was difficult to make out his expression, but at least he didn't seem obviously upset with them.

"First, the obvious part," Kakashi began. "You lost. Technically, Team Eight was the winner of the exercise, since they were the only team to fulfill all of their objectives. It was none of their own doing, but that only proves the saying about the limited use of planning in combat situations."

Naruto nodded reluctantly, annoyed in spite of himself at what Kakashi was saying; it figured that Sasuke's team had ended up with the 'win by default' victory condition. Then he remembered the absolutely furious look on the other boy's face when he had fallen so neatly into their trap, which cheered him up immensely, and he shrugged. Who won a training exercise didn't really matter in the long run, after all, at least not compared to the much more serious event awaiting them.

"Now," Kakashi continued, "your actual performance was…not terrible, with one exception." He paused for a moment and looked at each of them, his gaze lingering finally on Hinata. "Can you tell me what your mistake was?"

Naruto was surprised for a moment when Sakura answered, not Hinata. "We split up," she said quietly, her eyes downcast, but it was impossible to mistake the confidence in her voice. "We got careless because of Hinata-chan's byakugan, so we let her go by herself. They wouldn't have been able to ambush her if we had been together."

"Correct," Kakashi said, nodding to her. "Teams are made up of more than one person for a reason, and that reason is because when you're in a threat situation, you should never go anywhere without backup. Single targets are easy targets; don't forget that again.

"Now, on the positive side, your defensive plan was solid. You seem to have picked up on the basics of fortifying a fixed position, and you dealt with Team Eight in an efficient manner, though they were under-strength. Your traps were fairly well-constructed too, given the time and materials you had available. Sakura, the Hokage asked me to tell you that he wishes to see you tomorrow to discuss the explosives you created."

Grinning to himself at the last part, Naruto looked over to see Sakura staring wide-eyed at their jounin-sensei. "He…but…you told him about that?" she stammered out, sounding as far from her previous self as possible. "But it wasn't anything special…I don't understand, Kakashi-sensei."

To Naruto's—and, as he glanced over at her, Hinata's—open amusement, Kakashi simply shrugged, which only served to discomfit Sakura even further. "The Hokage asked to be kept aware of all three rookie teams' progress," he said. "Nearly incinerating one of the teams counts as progress of a sort, I suppose."

"When will the next group session be, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata asked, presumably in an attempt to save Sakura from blushing to death. Still, Naruto could hear the barely-suppressed laughter in her voice, and he suspected it would be a long time before either of them let Sakura forget what Kakashi had said.

"Tomorrow evening," Kakashi said. "I won't tell you exactly what you'll be doing, but it will be very different from last night."

_Oh, that's _so_ much help, Kakashi-sensei_, Naruto thought, sighing to himself. While Kakashi had made astonishing improvements in his teaching style during the course of the past few months, he could still be the most _annoying_ person Naruto had ever known—and, given some of the genin in his year, that was a remarkable achievement. He knew from asking his mother that candidates were informed of the chuunin exams' second task the day before it began, so he wasn't sure why Kakashi was being so secretive about their exercises. He wouldn't be surprised, though, if it was just the jounin's warped idea of humor.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura asked, apparently having recovered from her near-terminal embarrassment, "could you teach us the hand signals that Team Eight was using yesterday? I noticed how easy it was for them to coordinate with each other, at least for basic things."

Naruto was somewhat surprised to hear her say that, given how easy it had been to finish off Sasuke and Kiba, but he and Hinata usually let Sakura come up with their strategies for a reason. He himself might be able to think on his feet in a fight better than she could, but when it came to planning ahead, the only person he knew who could rival her—among the genin, at least—was Shikamaru. If she wanted them to learn hand signals, she probably had a good reason for it.

"I was wondering if you would pick up on that," Kakashi said. "It's not a bad idea, and we'll work on that later…after your sparring session. Or did you think I hadn't noticed how easily you were captured last night?"

Listening to Sakura groan in dismay, Naruto snickered, prompting a murderous glare from his green-eyed teammate. He would pay for that later in some way, he knew, but she really did need to work on her close combat skills. All the cleverness and trickery in the world wouldn't help her if someone managed to ambush her, and he had no desire to watch something like the events of the previous night's exercise take place for real.

- - -

"Sa—Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked, after making sure the door was securely closed behind her. The Hokage was seated at his desk, but rather than poring over countless documents as he had been doing every time she saw him recently, he was leaning back in his chair and smoking his pipe.

_I guess even the Hokage needs a break every now and then_, she thought, giggling softly to herself as she walked up to his desk. Then she winced as she saw that, on top of all the other papers piled on the desk's surface, several of the linked explosive seal-sheets she had made the day before yesterday were sitting out. The dirt staining them only worsened the impression given off by their haphazard construction, and she couldn't help but wonder why she had been so excited about making them in the first place. They were crude, the work of an amateur, and she was certain her teacher was going to criticize her for being silly enough to think she could—

"I am quite impressed," the Hokage said, blowing out a cloud of smoke without opening his eyes. "You have progressed much more quickly in your studies than I could have anticipated—something I seem to be saying quite a lot, recently."

Sakura felt her thoughts come to a jangling halt, and her mouth dropped open as she stared at him. That was about as far from what she had expected to hear him say as it was possible to get. "I don't understand," she murmured, looking down at the floor. "These—" she gestured at the soiled sheets of paper— "aren't anything special, and even if they were, I didn't really do anything except adapt an idea from the Fourth's scroll."

The Hokage frowned around his pipe stem, and he shook his head. "Ignoring the fact that you seem to have found a less expensive way to create a very useful weapon—even though it may be somewhat less efficient than the original—creating anything new at all is still quite noteworthy."

"But I didn't!" Sakura protested, wishing she could make him understand. She hadn't created anything at all, really, and he had just admitted that the sealing configuration she had _adapted_ wasn't as good as what she had been trying to emulate.

"Sakura-chan, modesty is an admirable virtue," the Hokage said as he finally opened his eyes, only to fix her with a piercing stare. "Hiding the true extent of your talent from potential enemies is an even more admirable survival skill. Refusing to recognize that talent at all, however, is simply foolish. You seem to be forgetting that I have read that scroll as well, if not in as much detail as you, and I know that the Fourth never once mentions resonance between identical seals as a useful effect in his notes."

Sakura was close to tears by the time he finished speaking, more from sheer frustration than because of his reprimand. Just because the idea had not been explicitly spelled out in the Fourth's notes didn't mean that it was her own rather than his; all it meant was that she had used his idea in a way he hadn't thought of right at that moment. It certainly wasn't anything like what the Hokage was implying, but she had spent enough time with him to know that it would be useless to try to argue her point any further.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," she said dully, hoping that was all he wanted from her. She was sore from the morning's practice—more taijutsu and ninjutsu training—and she desperately wanted to go back to her apartment and take a hot bath before the joint exercise with the other teams that evening.

"Better," the Hokage said, in a tone that let her know she hadn't fooled him. "I know you are busy preparing for the chuunin examinations, but I would like you to spend some time going over your design. If you could reduce the amount of chakra wastage, I can think of several people who would be very interested in it."

Sakura sighed as she pictured her hot bath slipping further and further out of reach. "Now?" she asked, not bothering to conceal her disappointment.

Much to her relief, the Hokage shook his head. "Not now," he replied. "I know you have another training exercise scheduled for later today, and I am sure you will need time to prepare for it. Come back tomorrow, and we can discuss it further."

It was clearly a dismissal, and she nodded. "Yes, Hokage-sama," she said, then bowed and left his office. The chuunin guards at the door—new since the last time she had come in—gave her curious looks as she passed them, but, to her relief, said nothing to her. After coming closer than she could ever remember to outright arguing with the man who was her mentor, leader, and guardian all in one person, she was in no mood to face the villagers' typical disdain.

Sighing to herself as she exited the Hokage's tower, Sakura looked up at the cloudy sky and shook her head. A cool wind blew pleasantly against her skin, and she took a moment to enjoy the feel of it brushing through her hair, which she had left unbound for once. As she let her feet carry her automatically towards her apartment, she closed her eyes and tried to relax—right up to the point where she ran into something and fell backwards onto the sidewalk.

_Ouch,_ she thought as she stood up, rubbing the bruise she could feel forming on her hip. _I guess that's what I deserve for not watching where I was going, but I didn't think—_

"Oh!" she exclaimed aloud, noticing what—or, more precisely, who—she had run into. "I'm really sorry! Are you okay?"

The other person, a tall girl with wavy blonde hair pulled back into an odd four-ponytailed style, simply stared at her. She was wearing an outfit much like the ones Sakura had seen on some of the older kunoichi, and she carried herself with a confidence that bordered on arrogance.

"Is this the way you treat all the visitors to your village?" the girl finally asked after several long moments of silence, causing Sakura to start in surprise and take a closer look at her.

_Oh, no!_ Sakura moaned to herself, noticing the Sand insignia on the girl's forehead protector. She could feel her face flush in embarrassment, and she quickly ducked her head, hoping the other girl hadn't noticed.

"You're here for the chuunin exams, aren't you?" she asked, not really expecting a reply to the obvious question. Fire and Wind Countries were allied, but as a rule, ninja from either country didn't enter the other—at least, not officially—except on special occasions. To make matters worse, since it was such a long trip from Wind Country, the Sand surely would only have sent their best genin to compete, and Sakura hoped she hadn't annoyed the foreign ninja too badly.

Much to her relief, the blonde girl nodded, pulling out a travel pass with her picture and name. "That's right," she said. "My brothers and I arrived today. You know, you're lucky you ran into me and not one of them."

_Brothers?_ Sakura wondered, curious in spite of herself. The Sand apparently formed their genin teams much differently than the Leaf, if this Temari and her brothers were all on the same team despite their age differences. Of course, they could be triplets, she supposed, but that seemed rather unlikely.

"Um…do you want me to show you around?" she asked, hoping the offer wouldn't be taken as an insinuation that she didn't trust the Sand genin to wander around the village unsupervised. It was the first time she had ever met a ninja from another country—the Sound ninja who had attacked her team didn't count, she thought—and she wasn't entirely sure of the proprieties involved. Having the chance to talk with someone who hadn't learned to hate her at first sight was a tempting prospect, though, and she found herself hoping that Temari would agree.

As the older girl appeared to be considering her offer, Sakura heard footsteps from behind her and turned around to see a redheaded boy about her own age walking up to them. He was carrying something large on his back—a pack of some kind, she thought at first, then realized it was a large jar as he drew closer—and he had prominent dark circles under his eyes, as though he hadn't slept in days. She felt a sense of empathy towards him at that sight, thanks to her own brushes with sleeplessness as a result of the nightmares that had haunted her in the wake of calling on the Nine-Tails' power, and she found herself wondering at the cause of his insomnia.

"Gaara!" Temari gasped from behind her, the confidence in her voice all but vanishing. "I was coming to look for you and Kankuro, but this girl ran into me."

The boy—one of the brothers Temari had mentioned earlier, Sakura assumed, though she wondered why the other girl sounded almost afraid of him—walked up to stand next to them. Sakura shivered as he passed her, something about him making her feel extremely ill at ease, then had to keep herself from staring too obviously when she saw the red symbol tattooed on his forehead.

'_Love,'_ she thought curiously. _That's not a character used in seals._ It puzzled her, though, why someone—especially a ninja—would mark himself so obviously if not out of necessity. Some ninja did get decorative tattoos, she knew, but they were almost always done in locations that could be easily covered up.

"We're going, Temari," the boy said abruptly, interrupting Sakura's train of thought. He hadn't even bothered acknowledging her presence, which annoyed her for a moment before he turned to face her, at which point she wished he hadn't. He seemed perfectly normal at first glance, except for the bags under his eyes and the unusual color of his hair—not that she had any room to talk about the latter—but something about his eyes disturbed her. Unconsciously, she found herself avoiding them, and she no longer wondered why Temari appeared unsettled by her brother's presence.

The blonde girl nodded quickly. "Kankuro hasn't gotten into trouble, has he?" she asked, sounding almost worried. "He can get a bit—"

"You should have stayed with him," Gaara interjected. His voice, like his eyes, was flat and hard, and Sakura winced at the sound. "If I have to kill him, we won't be able to compete."

_Kill him?_ Sakura wondered, her eyes growing huge in astonishment at how casually he said it.

"Isn't this Kankuro your brother?" she asked. "How can you even talk about killing him like that?" Almost immediately, she clapped her hands over her mouth, aghast to realize she had spoken aloud. Her cheeks flamed red, and she flinched as the uneasy feeling emanating from the boy slid sharply into outright threat. The look of mingled shock and anticipatory horror on Temari's face only added to her sudden and very real fear.

All Gaara did, though, was stare at her for a long moment before turning and beginning to walk away. "We're going, Temari," he repeated, the deadness in his voice somehow more frightening than any anger could have been. "Now"

Without even a backward glance, the blonde girl hurried after him. Sakura didn't blame her; she couldn't even imagine what living with him must be like, but she was certain that making him angry would be an incredibly stupid thing to do. The only other person she had ever met who frightened her more was the Nine-Tails in its human dream-guise.

Shivering again as that comparison called up memories she wished she could forget, Sakura began walking towards her apartment. The breeze no longer felt refreshing, only chilling, and she wanted to get inside where she could feel warm and safe.

- - -

"That could have gone worse," Kurenai said, tipping back in her chair and examining the glass of sake she was holding.

_How?_ Kakashi wondered. Glaring at his fellow jounin-sensei would not have been conducive to maintaining his image, but he found himself hard-pressed to resist. Her team had done much better in the second exercise than in the first, so he supposed she had somewhat of a right to be pleased, but he winced internally as he recalled his own team's performance.

Sakura had seemed nervous about something, and apparently it had spread to his other two genin and affected them dramatically. In what should have been a simple scenario—a three-way running battle through a section of forest, with the winning team being the first to reach a predetermined location or last to remain alive—Team Seven had made mistakes even an academy student could have exploited.

Hinata had been the first to fall, taken out by Team Eight in what even Kakashi had to admit was a clever display of combined genjutsu and ninjutsu. Her loss had unsettled her teammates—especially Sakura—even more, and in the ensuing skirmish, the pink-haired girl had been 'killed' almost without putting up a fight. Naruto, showing more sense than Kakashi had credited him with, had immediately retreated rather than face three-on-one odds. Unfortunately, he ran straight across Team Ten's path, with predictable results.

"Well, someone could have died, I guess," Asuma commented glumly, staring into his own glass. Kakashi took some comfort in the fact that the other man's team had been finished off almost as quickly as his own, even if they had managed to 'kill' Kiba and wound Sasuke before succumbing to the chakra-draining effects of Shino's swarm.

Kurenai shrugged. "This exercise was stacked in my team's favor," she admitted. "It's hard to beat a hunter team for something like that. Tomorrow's should be interesting, though."

Kakashi just hoped his genin got whatever was bothering them out of their systems before then. Tomorrow's exercise marked the first time the jounin would be actively participating, and if his team performed as poorly then as they had earlier this evening, the experience wouldn't even be valuable as a training tool. Even if everything went perfectly, the teams wouldn't be as well prepared for the exams as he had initially hoped, but they would be torn apart by any serious opponent in their current condition.

In a way, though, that was the entire point of the second part of the exams; unprepared teams _shouldn't_ pass, and ordinarily Kakashi would have been largely indifferent to his genin's fates. If they made mistakes and lost, then they would have proven that they were unready to become chuunin. Orochimaru's plots changed all of that, though, turning a dangerous but regulated test into something much more akin to the trials by fire Kakashi's generation had faced during the war with the Rock.

At least he could be reasonably certain that Akatsuki would wait to make itself known until after the conclusion of the Snake Sannin's plans. The Hokage's agent—and while Kakashi still hadn't managed to learn that mysterious person's name, he had a fairly good idea of who it might be—had passed along information indicating that the organization's team assigned to the Leaf was under strict orders not to do anything that might draw Orochimaru's attention to themselves.

"I think we could have chosen a better scenario," Asuma said, interrupting Kakashi's train of thought. "The second test hasn't involved urban combat in years, and those kinds of tactics don't generalize all that well to other environments."

Kakashi shook his head, disagreeing. He could see the other jounin's point, but the point of tomorrow's exercise was primarily to see how well the genin would react under pressure, and an unfamiliar setting would only help in that regard. He was interested to see Kurenai shake her head as well; of the three of them, she had the least amount of combat experience, and he would have expected her to agree with Asuma.

"Most actual missions take place in towns of some sort, though," the red-eyed woman said. She took a sip of her drink, then continued, "There's no point in training them specifically to get through the exams if they get killed during their first mission afterwards."

It was not a point Kakashi would have made, but he supposed it was a valid one, to some extent. He found it interesting that she had come to the same conclusion he had for a completely different reason, though he also felt that she was overstating the situation, or perhaps underestimating the danger posed by Orochimaru. While their genin would not—_could_ not, regardless of how much preparation they received—be expected to fight and win against him, they would have to survive until Leaf ANBU could intervene. That alone would be a task far more dangerous than any mission a genin or new chuunin might be assigned.

In any event, it was largely irrelevant. With only a few days remaining until the start of the exams, they had time for two—perhaps three—more exercises, all of which they had already selected. Any more would be useless; if their genin came to the exams too exhausted from constant training, it would be worse than no training at all. As it was, Kakashi's own team was coming close to that thin line, and he could only assume the same was true for the other two teams as well.

He had done what he could, and soon enough the rest would be up to his genin. He just hoped they would live up to the potential he could see in them.

- - -

"Late, late, late," Sakura chanted under her breath as she ran down the street leading to the academy grounds. "_So_ late!" Ahead, she could barely make out the figures of her teammates waiting by the door into the main academy building where the first part of the chuunin exams would be held, and she sped up even more.

Naruto openly laughed at her as she came to a halt in front of him, but she couldn't manage to work up the energy to glare at him. "I thought we agreed that there were some lessons we didn't want to learn from Kakashi-sensei," he said, causing Hinata to giggle as well.

"I overslept," Sakura admitted sheepishly after she had caught her breath. "Then I got started thinking about this really interesting property of—never mind, I'll tell you later."

Naruto nodded sagely. "We promise we'll be just as confused then as we would be if you told us now, right, Hinata-chan?" he said. "Why did you oversleep, though? We had the day off from practice yesterday so we could rest."

"My teacher wanted me to work on that thing with the explosive seals," Sakura said, sighing a little as she thought of all the time she had spent over the past few days on what had started out as the product of a moment's whim. She had to admit, though, if only to herself, that the chakra resonance effect was beginning to interest her more and more as she studied it further. Much to her surprise, it seemed to be almost ignored in all of the scrolls she had read, and the ones that did mention it did so only as an annoying side effect to be circumvented.

Naruto turned to her as the three genin walked inside the building. "I've been wondering about that," he said. "Why do you always just call him your teacher? We know he's the Ho—ouch! What was that for, Hinata?"

"Don't be stupid, Naruto-kun," Hinata said pleasantly after removing her elbow from his ribs. "What do we know about Sakura-chan? Now, what do you think other people who also know that about her might say—or do—if they learned who had been giving her private lessons? As in, people like the clan leaders or the village elders."

"Oh. Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto muttered, rubbing his side. "I didn't think about that."

Sakura nodded. "Just…be careful, please," she said. "I'm not sure anyone would really care, but he did ask me to keep it a secret as much as possible."

"Trust me, people would care," Hinata said. She frowned and shook her head. "I've been attending some of the council meetings with Father recently, and I can't believe how petty and spiteful the discussions can get."

The three of them stepped out of the stairwell and into the third floor corridor—or, at least, that was what it appeared to be. Sakura was sure they had only gone up one flight of stairs, though, even if the sign for the room in front of them showed 301. Several other genin were gathered near the partially-open door, and two chuunin stood in front of it. As she watched, one genin tried to walk into the room but was immediately shoved away by the chuunin.

She took a few steps forward, then realized Naruto and Hinata hadn't followed. Glancing back at them, she saw they were both looking at the same person, a Leaf genin with long hair and the distinctive Hyuuga eyes. Hinata seemed almost worried, and Sakura watched in surprise as she even edged back a little into the stairwell. Naruto, on the other hand, was glaring at the other boy.

"Speaking of petty and spiteful," Sakura heard him say, just loudly enough to be heard over the noise the other genin were making, and she suddenly realized who the Hyuuga must be. Hinata had mentioned her cousin Neji a few times, and though Sakura had never seen him, the long-haired boy matched his description perfectly, right down to the delicate, almost feminine facial features that were set in a cold expression.

Gathering herself, Hinata stepped forward into the corridor and nodded to her cousin. "Neji-niisan," she said, and even though Sakura could see that the smile on her face was forced, she sounded genuinely happy to see him. "Are you here for the chuunin exams too?"

"Of course," Neji replied, not bothering to turn to face her. "I'm not sure why you're here, though, unless you're hoping your teammates will be able to get you through the first two parts. Even if they do, you'll still fail in the individual matches. You're weak, and you can't change that."

Sakura felt her mouth drop open as she watched him walk away, two other genin hurriedly extricating themselves from the crowd to follow after him. One of them, an odd-looking boy with short, bowl-cut hair who appeared to be wearing a stretchy green jumpsuit of all things, glanced back at her for a moment and smiled widely, but she was so shocked by the Hyuuga's rudeness that she barely even noticed.

"That…Hinata-chan, was that really your cousin?" she asked her friend, who was standing rigidly in the middle of the corridor. Hinata's eyes were wide, and for a moment, Sakura thought she looked like she was about to cry. With visible effort, though, she forced the miserable expression off of her face and turned back to where Naruto was still standing in the doorway. The blond boy had a murderous look in his eyes, but when he started forward as though to chase after Neji and his teammates, Hinata grabbed his arm.

"Don't," she said sadly. "It won't help anything if you fight him, and even if it would, we don't have time for me to fix your tenketsu afterwards. Let's just go; we've wasted enough time here already."

Naruto nodded, and Hinata let him go, though he still seemed furious. Sakura couldn't blame him, as her earlier disbelief was rapidly shading into anger of her own. Now she understood why her friend always changed the subject when the topic of her cousin came up.

As if she sensed the direction Sakura's thoughts were taking, Hinata turned to her and shook her head. "Not you too," she sighed. "Don't worry, I can handle whatever he says. He just…caught me off guard for a moment. I feel sorry for him, actually."

The tone of her voice said otherwise, but her eyes were pleading with Sakura to drop the matter, so she nodded reluctantly. "All right," she said. "We'd better get moving, then. This genjutsu is weak compared to the ones Kurenai-san was using on us in training, but we don't have that much time to get to the real exam room."

Breaking the genjutsu itself was a matter of a moment's concentration, but Sakura groaned as she saw they were halfway across the building from where they needed to be. As one, she and her teammates took off running down the corridor, and she mentally cursed the building's illogical layout. Like most public buildings in the village, it was designed from the perspective of being easily defensible in the case of an invasion, and very few concessions had been made to convenience.

Finally, much to Sakura's relief—she had done more than enough running for one day, she thought—they arrived at the real room 301. After opening the door and seeing the staggering number of people packed inside, though, she almost wished they hadn't; there had to be well over a hundred genin waiting to take the exam. Most of them bore Leaf insignias, but she could see a sizeable number of Sand genin as well, including Temari and Gaara, and scattered handfuls of people from other, smaller villages.

"Is that the creepy guy you told us about the other day?" Naruto whispered to her, pointing at Gaara. Fortunately, the red-haired boy didn't seem to be paying attention, but Sakura pushed his hand down anyways.

"Yes, so don't do stuff like that," she muttered, though with all of the noise in the room, she doubted he could have overheard them even if they were yelling. "His sister seemed okay, but he really scared me, and I don't want him to notice me and come over here."

Naruto looked at her dubiously, then shrugged. "He doesn't look like anything special to me," he said. "That guy next to him with the weird facepaint—now he looks like someone to watch out for. Kind of funny-looking too, though."

"I agree with Sakura-chan," Hinata said. "His chakra is…strange. I'm not sure why, exactly, but it just doesn't look quite right." Sakura glanced over at her to see she had surreptitiously activated her byakugan, concealing the telltale signs by holding her exam application close to her face and pretending to study it.

"Maybe he's just got some weird bloodline ability," Naruto offered, though even he sounded a bit doubtful of that explanation. "Anyways, it's not like he's doing anything right now. We'd better find seats before they all get taken."

Much to her annoyance, Sakura found herself sitting some distance away from her teammates, as well as anyone else she recognized. She had waved to Ino, who was sitting with Shikamaru and Kiba on the other side of the room, but her friend apparently hadn't noticed, and she felt distinctly alone even surrounded by people on all sides. Fortunately, the genin near her seemed content to sit and wait for the exam to start, though she swallowed nervously as she noticed several of them give her measuring stares that lasted just a bit too long to be considered friendly.

_Of course_, she realized, _we're the youngest ones in the room. A lot of them have probably tried the exams before and failed, maybe even more than once._ Put that way, it wasn't surprising that some of the other genin might see the presence of the rookie teams as arrogant or presumptuous.

Over by Naruto and Hinata, who were talking with an older Leaf genin Sakura didn't recognize, the members of one of the foreign teams seemed to have reached their limit. Sakura held her breath as they stood up, hoping they wouldn't be stupid enough to actually start a fight in the exam room, but that hope was dashed when she saw one of them take a swing at the unfamiliar Leaf genin. The blow missed, and she sighed thankfully when the attacker stepped back, then gasped as his opponent fell heavily to his knees.

_No! Don't!_ Sakura thought frantically as Naruto and Hinata stood as well and moved to guard the kneeling Leaf genin. The examiners could show up at any moment, and she had no idea what they would do if they walked in on an all-out brawl. If her teammates were going to get into a fight, though, she had no choice but to support them.

As she began to get out of her seat, the entire front of the room was enveloped in a massive cloud of smoke. When it cleared, revealing an entire line of chuunin and a single jounin, she slumped back down and breathed a sigh of relief. The examiners had arrived.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the jounin said, seemingly ignoring the scuffle that had been on the verge of breaking out before his entrance. His face was heavily scarred, and Sakura wondered what could have hurt him so badly while still leaving him combat-capable. Silence descended over the room as the assembled genin turned to face him.

"My name is Morino Ibiki," he continued, once everyone had resumed their seats. "I am the examiner for the first part of the chuunin selection examinations, and these are my assistants." He gestured to the ranked ninja behind him, all of whom were dressed uniformly in grey and appeared far more professional than any chuunin Sakura had ever seen before.

His eyes swept the crowd, and Sakura winced when she saw them land on her teammates and the group of foreign genin. "The exams have rules," he said. "The first rule is that there is no fighting unless specifically allowed—and even then, killing is completely forbidden. Do _not_ think you can defy me; I will fail you immediately."

In spite of his disfigurement, his presence was commanding, and Sakura found herself listening raptly as he spoke. When he instructed everyone to come forward to turn in their applications and receive a copy of the first exam, she felt like jumping for joy; perhaps she was being overly egotistical, but she had never done poorly on a written test in her life, and she doubted this one would be any different.

_Maybe this won't be so bad after all_, she thought, feeling a sudden burst of confidence. She could worry about everything else later, but for now she would simply do her best.

- - -

Author's Notes: Well, one hard drive failure later, this chapter is finally complete. Again. Fortunately, I had backed everything up not too long before it died, but I still ended up losing several days' worth of work. Also, I've been having ISP issues, so I apologise for the lack of review responses for last chapter; I tried sending some, but more often than not they wouldn't go through, and eventually I just gave up. The problem seems to have been corrected within the past few days, though, and hopefully won't show up again (or I'll more than likely end up switching ISPs).

But, enough complaining about computer issues from me. Between Gaara, Neji--who really is an ass during the chuunin exam arc, I realized as I reread the relevant sections of the manga--and the start of the exams, hopefully this chapter didn't disappoint. As always, thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments!


	16. Fifteen: Falling and Rising

Naruto scowled as he stared at his exam paper. He had done adequately well in the theory-oriented classes at the academy, but these exam questions were on a completely different level; he would be astonished if any of his year-mates except Sakura could answer a single one, and even she would have trouble with them. The solution, obviously, was to copy the answers from someone else—he suspected some of the genin taking the exam were actually examiners in disguise, there to provide a source of correct information—but it was his misfortune to be severely lacking in cheating techniques.

Many of the other rookie genin had some innate advantage when it came to information gathering, but Naruto possessed nothing like that. Normally, he had no problem with that—he had proven that skill and quick thinking were equal to any secret techniques or bloodline abilities—but he had to admit that he wouldn't have minded having Hinata's byakugan or Ino's mind-switch techniques for this exam. He had already wasted nearly forty minutes trying to come up with a way to copy off of someone without risking detection by the extremely intimidating chuunin examiners, and still the only thing written on his paper was his name.

_At least there's been plenty of entertainment_, he sighed to himself. Some of the particularly transparent attempts at cheating had been very amusing, though he did feel sorry for the people who had failed due to their teammates' ineptitude. Perhaps the funniest moment of the exam had come when the boy sitting next to Sakura started shrieking as his paper burst into flames, leaving him with nothing but a large charred spot on his desk after a few seconds; blindly copying off of someone could be quite dangerous when the person in question happened to be a fuuinjutsu expert, Naruto thought—and regardless of what Sakura claimed, he had a feeling she deserved that title.

Unfortunately, none of that helped him at the moment. Just as he was about to admit defeat and beg Ino, who happened to be sitting next to him, for help, the head examiner—Morino Ibiki; he knew he had heard that name before, but he couldn't think of where—announced that time was up and the tenth question would be given. The rules for the question itself stunned him, though: decline to answer and fail automatically, or stay and risk answering incorrectly, which would mean a lifetime ban from all future exams. Judging by their reactions, not to mention the angry questions shouted at the examiner, everyone else in the room was equally shocked.

_I don't care, though_, Naruto thought to himself, tuning out the other genin in the room. If nothing else, the past few weeks of intensive training for a battle he very well might not survive had drilled into him that refusing to do something because it could be dangerous was simply not an option for a ninja. The prospect of remaining a genin for the rest of his life was a painful one, but dying would be infinitely worse, and neither he nor any of the other rookie genin had shirked their duty even when faced with the possibility of fighting one of the legendary sannin. The examiner's words were intimidating, but he had already faced worse even in his few months as a genin.

"Nobody else wants to take the safe option?" Ibiki asked, a twisted smirk appearing on his lips. "This is your last chance not to be genin for the rest of your lives." Naruto shuddered as the scarred man's gaze focused briefly on him before moving on to sweep the rest of the room. Between those genin who had failed during the first nine questions and, now, the ones who decided not to risk the final question, fewer than a third of the teams remained in the room.

"All right, then. Everyone still sitting down…passes."

Immediately, chaos broke out among the genin in the room. Looking around, Naruto saw that the tall blonde Sand kunoichi Sakura had pointed out earlier was protesting the loudest, but nearly everyone seemed to have something to say—or yell—about the fairness of the test, little of it complimentary. Finally, the noise grew too much for him, and almost before he realized it, he was standing up.

"Shut up!" he yelled. "Being a ninja isn't about fairness, it's about doing what you have to, even if you don't _want_ to. And the people who left—they didn't just lose their chances at passing. They made their teammates fail too. How can you call yourself a ninja if you would sacrifice your teammates for yourself?"

As Naruto stopped speaking, he became aware that the room had gone utterly silent and everyone else—genin and examiners alike—was staring at him. Now feeling more than a little embarrassed, he sat back down, though he noticed that Ino was smiling approvingly at him. The head examiner was looking at him as well, a long, considering stare that made him more than a bit uneasy.

"Pretty words," the older man said. "The reality of things is a bit uglier, though." With that, he removed the tight skullcap he had been wearing, revealing a webwork of old cuts and burns covering nearly the entire top of his head. The scars were horrific, and Naruto suspected they resulted from torture rather than combat wounds.

After a few seconds—long enough for everyone to get a good look—he replaced his head covering and looked out at the assembled genin. "It's easy to talk about doing what is necessary," he said. "Sacrificing yourself for the mission, or for your team's sake, is an ideal all of the villages teach. For chuunin, though, that isn't just talk—and it isn't only yourself you might have to sacrifice. Anyone who runs away from a simple thing like an exam isn't ready for that kind of responsibility."

Apparently satisfied with the genins' reactions to his words, Ibiki nodded once and stepped back. Naruto wondered what he was doing, but before he or anyone else could ask any questions, the rear door of the room banged open and another Leaf jounin walked in. She was radiating annoyance from every inch of her body, and as she stalked up to the front of the room, Naruto could hear her muttering something about how all the new restrictions in place for the exams had ruined her plans for a dramatic entrance.

"Listen up, everyone!" the woman called out over the murmuring that had started upon her arrival. "I'm Mitarashi Anko, the examiner for the second part of the exams. This time, you'll be heading into Training Ground 44, better known as the Forest of Death. Some of you have probably been in there for previous exams and might be thinking you'll be bored, but don't worry; it still lives up to its name just as much as it always has!"

Giving the genin a cheerful—yet somewhat sadistic, Naruto thought—grin after her last sentence, Anko waved and turned to leave. "Oh, almost forgot," she said as she reached the door. "You won't all be entering from the same place, so check with your jounin-sensei to find out where and when to meet tomorrow. Bye!"

Naruto exchanged a long glance with Ino, who appeared bemused by the jounin's rapid arrival and departure. "Well, that was different," he muttered to her. "Somehow she didn't do much to reassure me about our chances of survival, though."

"She kind of reminded me of you," Ino teased. "Except taller, and she was dressed pretty weird even by kunoichi standards. Even your fashion sense isn't quite that bad."

"Wouldn't that make her more like _you_, then?" Naruto asked, ducking the swat she aimed at him in response. Around them, the other genin were beginning to stand up and leave the room, and the examiners had vanished at some point when he hadn't been paying attention.

Ino sighed and stood up as well. "I guess I'd better go get Chouji and Shikamaru so we can meet Asuma-sensei," she said, her eyes scanning the room for her teammates. "We'll never find out where we need to go if I leave it to them."

"See you tomorrow, then," Naruto said. He waved to her as she joined the crowd, stopping to talk to Sakura and Hinata for a moment before disappearing behind a group of Sand genin. His two teammates sat down on either side of him a few moments later.

Groaning as he realized they would have to track down Kakashi somehow, Naruto turned pleading eyes onto Hinata. "Hinata-chan, do you think you could—"

"Find our incurably lazy jounin-sensei, who might have completely forgotten he needs to tell us where to go tomorrow?" Hinata completed for him, giving him a deceptively sweet smile. "Of course, Naruto-kun; I'd be delighted to. But I might have to search the entire village for him, and using my byakugan for that long would make me awfully tired and hungry…"

"Now who's being lazy?" Naruto muttered, knowing exactly what she wanted. It was easier to agree, though, than look for Kakashi himself. "Fine, I'll ask Mother if she'll make oden for dinner tonight instead of ramen. Extortionist."

Nodding happily, Hinata grabbed his and Sakura's arms and pulled them up. "I like to think of it as negotiating from a position of strength," she said as they walked out of the room. "Father says it's a very important lesson for a Hyuuga to learn."

"Aren't Hyuuga also supposed to be stoic traditionalists and not care about things like fancy food?" Naruto asked, poking his friend in the shoulder. He couldn't help but laugh at the scowl that appeared on her face, though he also couldn't blame her in the slightest; there was definitely a reason she always came over to his house rather than the other way around.

As the three genin exited the building, Naruto realized Sakura had stopped at the door. When he turned around to see what the matter was, though, she smiled and motioned for him to keep going. Shrugging slightly, he waved goodbye to her and headed off; Hinata had already disappeared in search of their jounin-sensei, and he wanted to get home before she finished with that.

He felt somewhat guilty at the way he and Hinata were effectively abandoning Sakura for the night, but she hadn't seemed upset in any way about being left behind. While he knew she could be quite skilled at concealing her true emotions when she wished, he was good enough at reading her that he was sure her good cheer had not been feigned.

_I just hope she's not going to go off by herself because she thinks Hinata and I want to spend time without her_, Naruto thought as he walked. It was true that Hinata had been his first friend and would probably always be his closest in some ways, but he knew neither of them would ever try to exclude their pink-haired teammate—especially not at a time like this. Nobody should ever have to be alone on the night before something as dangerous as the second part of the chuunin exam.

- - -

_This is nice_, Sakura thought as she sat at the table in the Yamanakas' elegant, albeit simply decorated, dining room. It had been quite a while since the last time she had slept over at Ino's house, and the invitation had made her realize how much she missed doing normal things with her friends—where 'normal' could be defined as anything that did not involve training to survive against one of the deadliest ninja in the history of the Leaf.

She had been expecting to spend the night before the second exam in her apartment by herself, and when Ino invited her and Hinata over, she gratefully accepted. She didn't mind being alone most of the time, but she knew herself well enough to know she would have worried all evening about the upcoming task and slept uneasily, if at all. Unfortunately, Hinata had already made plans to spend time with Naruto and his mother—it seemed that many of the rookie genin had had the same idea, not wanting to be by themselves tonight—but Sakura was enjoying herself immensely despite that.

Ino's mother had prepared a wonderful dinner for them, even going so far as to make sweet dumplings for dessert, which had nearly brought tears to Sakura's eyes all by itself. They were her absolute favorite food, and one she was only rarely able to purchase for herself, but more than that, the effort—even if it was only a small one—to do something nice specifically for her meant more than she ever could have said. Ino's father had vanished into the kitchen not long after they were done eating, leaving Sakura to smile to herself as she watched Ino and her mother happily talk about nothing of consequence.

For one aching moment, she wondered if her own mother would have been as cheerful and kind as Ino's, but then she shook her head. The next few days would bring more than enough pain, she knew, without deliberately creating her own. She had her friends, and even if she could only sit at the edges of real families and watch them, that was enough for her because it was more than she had ever had before.

Just then, as Ino laughed at one of her mother's stories from the flower shop, her father re-entered the room bearing a ceramic bottle of sake and three shallow cups. He set them on the table, then sat down across from Ino and Sakura. Sakura watched as Ino's mother turned to her husband, who simply nodded once and smiled at her.

"If you're sure," the older woman murmured. She then stood up and walked out of the room, though not without casting a long look over her shoulder at Sakura.

Sakura exchanged a puzzled look with Ino, who shrugged before turning to her father. "What are you doing, Dad?" she asked lightly. "Mom would kill you in your sleep if you got me or Sakura-chan drunk, so I know that can't be for us."

"Whatever else you may have learned from him, your jounin-sensei obviously hasn't managed to teach you patience yet," her father replied, sounding amused. He carefully poured a small amount of sake into each of the cups, then set them in front of Sakura, Ino, and himself. Taking his own in both hands, he motioned for Ino to do the same.

"Sakura," he said, turning to her, "could you please excuse us for a few minutes? I want to talk with you also, but…"

Sakura nodded, standing up from the table as the usually-confident jounin trailed off. She couldn't claim to understand completely—she had no idea how her own parents would have acted in a situation like this—but she could never begrudge Ino time with her own father, especially given what all of them would be faced with over the next few days.

_This could be one of the last times they ever see each other_, she thought uneasily as she went into the kitchen. Trying to distract herself from that particular morbid line of thinking, she began to wash the dishes left over from dinner, but she only found herself dwelling on it more. Once, Kakashi had demonstrated the Hell Viewing genjutsu on them; it was a fairly weak technique by most standards, but the emotional impact of what she had seen under its influence had remained with her for quite some time even after it wore off. Despite her best efforts, some of those images were returning to her now, and she shuddered as she tried to force them away.

Some time later—Sakura had no idea how long, except that the wash water she had drawn had gone cool at some point—Ino poked her head through the doorway. Though her eyes were red from crying and her cheeks glistened with tears she hadn't bothered wiping away, she had a look of quiet happiness on her face, and she smiled at Sakura. "We're…done talking," she said. "I'm going up to my room now, so come up when you're ready."

"Okay, Ino-chan," Sakura said, smiling back at her friend, though inwardly she felt a bit worried about why Ino's father could possibly want to talk with her. As she walked back into the dining room and sat down, though, she was relieved when he appeared glad to see her.

"Do you remember what I said to you the first time you came here?" he began unceremoniously. "I doubt you do—it was several years ago, after all—but at the time it was a difficult enough decision even allowing you inside our home. You surprised me, though, enough that I decided not to interfere with your friendship with my daughter."

Sakura's eyes widened, and she felt a twinge of fear at his words. In all the time she had known Ino's father, he had never referred so bluntly to her outcast social status, and she wondered if she had done something to anger him. Had he somehow learned or figured out what had happened on her team's last mission and now intended to forbid her to spend time with Ino? That thought frightened her more than she cared to admit, even to herself.

Something of her sudden inner turmoil must have shown on her face, as the man sitting across from her groaned and shook his head. "Emi was right," he muttered, apparently to himself. "I _am_ making a mess of this."

Looking Sakura in the eye, he continued, his voice now full of quiet reassurance, "Since that first time we met you, you have never given me or my wife any reason at all to regret that initial decision. If anything, the only thing we've regretted has been that we tried to keep Ino away from you before then. I know this probably comes years too late for you, but I would like to apologize for that."

"Don't…but…you're not…" Sakura tried several times to come up with something—anything at all—that she could possibly say in response, but her mind seemed to have completely shut itself off. As her vision began to blur with tears, she finally managed to whisper, "It doesn't matter, not any more."

That was a lie; it did matter to her, more than she could possibly say, and that was the problem. Nobody had ever—not even once in her entire life—apologized for the way they had treated her, and she literally had no idea what to do now that someone had done so. All she knew was that while those seemingly simple words did not erase her memories of all the years she had been alone, they somehow made her feel more confident that those years were gone and would never come again.

As she wiped her eyes with her sleeve, she saw Ino's father smile at her. He looked as though he wanted to say something, then shook his head as though he had changed his mind. "We Yamanaka are one of the youngest ninja families in the Leaf," he said a moment later, confusing Sakura with the apparent change of subject. "Really, we're young enough that we don't qualify as a true clan; Ino's children will be the first of our line who can claim that distinction.

"Still, we do have a few traditions, mostly started by my father, and one in particular seems appropriate now. The night before each of my missions that would take me outside the village, he would pour sake for the two of us, and the more dangerous the mission was likely to be, the less he would pour. Haruno Sakura, you may not be my daughter by birth, but I would ask you to do me and my family the honor of drinking with me now."

Almost unable to believe what she was hearing, Sakura numbly copied his movements, lifting the dish of sake in front of her with her fingertips and placing it against her lips. The tiny amount of liquid—less than a mouthful, she noted with grim appreciation—slid smoothly down her throat, and she swallowed with a slight grimace; this was the first time she had ever tasted alcohol, and while it was not exactly unpleasant, she thought it would take quite a bit of getting used to in order for her to actually enjoy it. As she set the ceramic saucer back down, she bowed deeply to Ino's father, hoping that would say everything for which she was unable to find the words.

"May you return safely home," he said quietly before standing up from the table and, gathering the sake bottle and used saucers, disappearing from the room. After what seemed like an endless moment spent staring after him, Sakura stood as well.

"I won't let anything happen to her," she whispered, turning off the lights in the room and heading upstairs to join Ino. "I promise, no matter what happens." All three of the rookie teams might be rivals in the exam itself, but some things were more important than succeeding in an exam.

- - -

Sakura pressed her lips together in an attempt to hold back a pained moan as Naruto cut away the fabric of her pants. He was obviously trying hard not to brush against the dart embedded deep into her thigh, but even the slightest movement was enough to send fire racing along her leg, and part of her desperately wished he would just hurry up and get it over with. The only saving grace was that the dart did not seem to have been poisoned, but that wouldn't make it any easier to remove.

A shadow fell across her face, and she looked up to see that Hinata had returned. "The area is secure," her dark-haired teammate reported tersely, the bulging veins around her eyes a clear sign that she had no intention of being caught unaware again.

"What about the Rain team?" Sakura managed to hiss through suddenly clenched teeth, the pain in her leg spiking momentarily. Risking a glance downward at herself, she saw Naruto had finished cutting and peeled back what used to be the left leg of the dark grey ballistic-cloth pants she wore when out in the field. The wound itself seemed laughably small at first glance—nothing but a small trickle of blood oozing out from around a thin metal shaft no more than a few inches in length—but that was only because the wickedly barbed head was invisible beneath her skin.

In some ways, she had gotten lucky; if the dart had hit slightly further down her leg, it could have damaged her knee, and she could easily be dead now if it had landed on her inner thigh and grazed or punctured an artery. Knowing that didn't do anything to decrease the pain she was feeling, though, or the even greater pain she knew would come when her teammates removed the dart.

"The enemy genin are…not an issue," Hinata said coolly, causing Sakura to marvel at the sudden resemblance to her cousin. "We have several hours before we'll need to leave the area. Fortunately, they were carrying an Earth scroll."

"So at least we got something out of this," Naruto muttered. "Not that it was worth it." Turning back to Sakura's leg, he frowned and asked, "Hinata-chan, can you tell if the dart head is far enough in to be near any major blood vessels? I'm going to have to widen the wound, but I won't if it risks cutting anything important. We can signal for pickup and get her to a professional medic-nin if that's the case."

Hinata shook her head. "The byakugan isn't precise enough to tell exactly," she said, "but I don't think so." The emotionless mask her face had been set in since she returned cracked slightly, and for a moment Sakura was stunned at the depth of misery and guilt she saw in her teammate's expression. Then the mask reformed, so quickly the momentary lapse could have been an illusion.

"And closing off the tenketsu in my leg wouldn't do anything to deaden the pain," Sakura sighed, wincing as Naruto gently probed the surface of her leg around the dart with his finger. He had already given her some painkillers, but the basic medical kit simply didn't include anything strong enough to help with what would amount to minor surgery. She was grateful, though, that he had taken the optional field medicine course at the academy and knew the essentials of what to do; that was somewhat unusual for most male ninja, especially at the genin level where severe injuries on missions were unlikely, but Naruto was nothing if not enthusiastic about learning new skills and techniques.

Looking up from his examination, Naruto shook his head slowly. "No," he said, "but it would keep your leg still. This is going to hurt a lot, Sakura-chan, but it shouldn't actually be that bad once I get the dart out. If you move while I'm cutting, though, I might seriously injure you."

"Can't you just knock me out?" Sakura asked him, only somewhat joking. The flatly unamused looks she received from her teammates in return caused her to duck her head apologetically.

Prompted by a glance from Naruto, Hinata reached down and tapped several places on both of Sakura's legs with feather-light touches. As the curiously numb-yet-not sensation produced by the jyuuken flowed down from her hips, Sakura experimentally tried wiggling her toes, and, when that failed, bending her knee. She could still feel the dart pulsing in time with her heartbeat like a knot of pain in her upper leg, but within seconds she was completely unable to move from the waist down.

"I'm ready," she said quietly, staring up at the bare tree branches overhead. Hinata had moved around to sit behind her, and her head was lying in the other girl's lap. Tilting her head back so she wouldn't have to watch what Naruto was about to do, she was just in time to watch another flicker of emotion play across her teammate's face.

Then Naruto began to cut, and it was all Sakura could do simply to keep from screaming. She had been injured before—nobody made it through the ninja academy unscathed—but this was different. Even through the faint haze of pain medication, she could feel every probing cut he made, and at that moment she would have given nearly anything for him to stop. Her torso tried to arch upwards in agony, but Hinata kept her pinned down with a strength that belied her slender frame. She could feel wetness on her face, and some part of her mind that was still able to think wondered whether it was from Hinata's tears or her own.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she felt Naruto's grip on her leg shift slightly. After one last burst of pain so intense she saw the edges of her vision grey out, the sensation of something foreign lodged within her leg disappeared, replaced by a throbbing ache.

"Almost done," Naruto said, his voice filled with relief. She felt him wipe her leg with something cool that stung against her wound, then securely bandage it. Looking down at herself, she saw a surprisingly small swathe of gauze wrapped around her thigh, and she smiled at Naruto—or, at least, tried to, despite the lingering pain.

He didn't appear to notice, though, as he frowned down at something he was holding in one hand. "Chakra-enhanced," he muttered. "That explains how it got through the fabric of your pants, Sakura-chan. I thought this design was banned after the last war, though."

Sakura managed to sit up with Hinata's assistance, and she peered down with morbid fascination at what he was holding. The dart's head, still slick with her blood, appeared to be designed to cause as much pain as possible while it was inside someone and even more when it was removed. Shuddering, she turned away from it, feeling slightly ill at the sight.

"You were lucky," Naruto said, looking everywhere but at her. "It wasn't as far in as I thought, so you should still be able to use your leg normally as long as you don't strain it. We won't be able to tree-hop now, though, and you should definitely avoid any close-range fighting."

_I'm a burden_, Sakura thought. _I was careless and let myself get hit, and now I'm going to be slowing them down._ She bowed her head, ashamed of how poorly she had performed even after so much training; for all their confidence in her, she seemed to do nothing but let her teammates down.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Sakura-chan."

Hinata's broken whisper snapped her out of her thoughts, and she looked up with surprise at her friend. "Why are you sorry?" she asked. "I'm the one who got hit, even when I should have been able to deflect that."

"But I didn't see them coming," Hinata said, her voice barely audible.

"Would you both stop it?" Naruto growled, causing both Sakura and Hinata to look at him in surprise. "It doesn't matter whose fault it was. We're only a few hours in and we've already screwed up against a team of normal genin, so what's going to happen if Orochimaru really is here? Maybe there's nothing we can do at all, but sitting around whining won't help."

Sakura stared at him, shocked he had spoken so harshly, but then she noticed his hands. Still stained with her blood, they were trembling, and she reached out and took them in her own as she considered what had just happened from his perspective. She had been the one to get hurt, true, but he had had to hurt her—and even if it was to help her in the end, she knew it still must have bothered him to do so.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun," she said quietly, forcing herself to ignore the dull, persistent pain in her leg. "I would have been in a lot more trouble if you hadn't known what to do. We'll be okay, I think; we've only just started and we have the scroll we need, so we can avoid all the other teams from now on."

Hoping she seemed more confident than she felt at the moment, Sakura captured her teammates' eyes with her own. "All we have to do is make it to the center of the forest," she said, her mind already considering possible strategies. "Even if we do run into another team, I'm much better at support than melee combat anyways, so we haven't lost much in terms of fighting ability."

"I…I guess you're right," Hinata murmured, smiling hesitantly at both her and Naruto. She still looked somewhat upset, but Sakura couldn't blame her for that when she was feeling the same way.

Naruto nodded once, already beginning to look more like his usual confident self. "Yeah! We're Team Seven, and we won't let anyone beat us, right?" he said—and even if his grin was a bit too cheerful, Sakura had no intention of saying anything to him. "We should wait a little bit longer for the clotting solution I put on your bandage to work, Sakura-chan, but you should be ready to go then."

"_After_ I put on some new pants," Sakura said, blushing slightly as she looked down at herself; Naruto really had done a hack job on the ones she was wearing at the moment, and, modesty aside, trying to make her way through the forest in them would be quite uncomfortable. The answering laughter from her friends was welcome music to her ears.

- - -

_Three. Two at seven o'clock, one at three o'clock. All on the ground. Coming our way._

Sasuke signaled his understanding as he caught Shino's furtive gestures, looking to his side to make sure Kiba had seen as well. The other boy was frowning in concentration as he talked quietly with Akamaru, occasionally nodding in between barks. A few seconds later, the tiny white dog jumped off his shoulder and landed nimbly on the ground.

The three genin continued to move along the trail they were following, showing no outward sign that they knew they were being watched. Sasuke hoped the unknown ninja would take the bait; ambush tactics were far more harmful than helpful when the targets had advance notice of the attack, and anyone trying to sneak up on his team would learn that unpleasant truth in great detail. To his disappointment, though, Shino signaled that the members of the enemy team were maintaining their distance, shadowing Team Eight's movement while remaining out of visual range.

Sasuke and his teammates continued to follow the trail of the team whose scents Kiba—or Akamaru; he didn't know which and didn't really care, either—had picked up earlier for nearly another hour, the hidden ninja mirroring their every change in direction. Finally, his patience with whatever game they were playing wearing thin, he gave his teammates the signal to halt.

"They must be waiting for us to attack another team so that they can pick everyone off in the confusion," he said quietly as Shino and Kiba came over and leaned against the tree next to him, taking out ration bars and water to give the appearance of a brief rest break. Sign language was very useful for communicating some things, but it broke down when dealing with more advanced tactics.

Shino gave the barest tilt of his head, which was as close to nodding as the other boy ever came. "That seems logical," he agreed. "My insects are having some difficulty keeping track of their exact locations, so they may be using masking genjutsu. The one to our right is the most elusive."

"They're scavengers," Kiba muttered. "They know they can't beat us fairly, so they have to wait until we're distracted."

Sasuke didn't bother trying to hide his disdainful snort. "We're ninja," he said. "Fairness doesn't matter, only who's left alive after it's all over." He had his _dear_ brother to thank for teaching him that particular lesson.

"I have managed to get a clearer picture of one of the enemy ninja," Shino said, interrupting what could have become yet another of their frequent arguments on whether or not 'honorable combat' had any relevance to ninja. Bending down, the bug-user picked up a twig and, following the motion of one of his insects, drew a symbol in the dirt which Sasuke instantly recognized.

"Sound," he muttered. The single musical note adorning the other village's forehead protectors was distinctive, and he felt his fists tighten. The Sound were under Orochimaru's control, and, according to Kurenai and the other jounin-sensei, the rogue sannin was after the secrets of the sharingan. As the only remaining Uchiha—the only true one, at any rate—it fell to him to guard his clan's heritage, and while these genin might have nothing to do with that, blindly assuming so would be foolish.

"Can we take out the single one on the right before the other two are able to help?" he asked Shino, now completely ignoring Kiba. Though Sasuke had gained a grudging respect for the Inuzuka's fighting skill over the past few weeks of intensive training—apparently, he had been deemed worthy of learning several of his clan's special techniques—he had virtually no strategic skills and would be all but useless in planning an attack.

"No," Shino replied flatly. "She—I am fairly certain it is a female—is somehow causing any of my insects near her to become disoriented, so I have only a rough idea of her position. The two on our left are easier to track, however."

Sasuke frowned. Three on two odds were not quite as good as he would have liked, but it seemed that was the best they would get. Allowing the Sound team to continue tracking them was not an option, as he had no desire to find himself fighting a three-way battle at some point in the future. Developing a plan of attack would be difficult, though, as they only knew anything about the capabilities of one of the Sound genin, who seemed to have a taijutsu technique that allowed even his missed strikes to inflict injury.

"I will deal with the one who threatened Naruto and Hinata before the first part of the exam," Shino said, apparently thinking along the same line as Sasuke. "Any unusual melee skills he possesses will be useless against me. The two of you should take the other, since with no knowledge of his abilities, numbers will be our main advantage."

That, Sasuke thought, was the problem with Shino; his ideas always made too much sense to argue with. Sasuke would have vastly preferred fighting by himself, but even more than that, he wanted to win—and his teammate's plan was, unfortunately, the one that seemed to offer the greatest chance of success.

"Forgetting something?" another voice called out loudly, barely a moment after Shino's head jerked around to stare at a seemingly unremarkable patch of bushes. The vegetation rustled slightly, and out stepped the two male Sound genin, who began laughing.

The one who had started the trouble at the first part of the exam—presumably the leader, Sasuke assumed—grinned nastily. "You three were so loud we could hear you from all the way back there," he said, causing his teammate to laugh again. "So the Leaf's prize rookie genin don't think they can take on a few lowly Sound ninja without double-teaming one, huh? I guess that just shows how far the 'mighty' Uchiha have fallen."

Forcing himself to remain calm and not allow the other's taunts to affect him, Sasuke subtly caught his teammates' eyes and signaled to attack. As one, the three Leaf genin spread out in an enveloping formation, with Kiba and Shino jumping behind their enemies to prevent any escape. Regardless of the advance notice provided by their exceptional hearing, the Sound had, in the end, been stupid enough to fall into the trap of their own accord.

As Sasuke ran forward, he saw a cloud of insects had already begun to descend upon the Sound genin who had spoken, and he smiled thinly to himself. Chakra draining was not a pleasant way to be defeated, as the arrogant boy would no doubt soon discover. His own target was looking back and forth between Sasuke himself and the tree behind which Kiba had vanished, before settling on Sasuke—which was just fine with him. If he looked closely, he could see a doubled shadow extending out from behind the tree, and he knew Kiba had used his Beast-Clone technique.

_Double-team, huh?_ he thought. _Let's see how you like being triple-teamed._ Anyone who dared to insult his clan deserved every bit of pain they received, and he intended to make sure that that was quite a bit. Before he reached optimum range to use any of his ninjutsu, though, he was halted by a sudden flash of silver and gold that cut through the air in front of him, accompanied by the sound of a ringing bell.

"I don't think so," a girl's high voice said mockingly, followed by another metallic flash—this one off to his right. Looking closer, Sasuke could see they appeared to be bells attached to senbon needles, which only confused him further; such weapons seemed neither practical nor stealthy in any way.

"You're late, Kin," the second Sound genin grunted, turning away from Sasuke to focus on the area where Kiba was hiding. Sasuke silently fumed at him, but he was forced to turn his own attention to the kunoichi who stepped out of the underbrush off to his left.

As the girl formed a quick series of hand seals and murmured something under her breath, Sasuke was already in motion, rolling to his side and away from her probable line of attack. One hand dipped into his kunai holster, and he flung several of the razor-sharp knives at her in an attempt to disrupt her concentration. When her figure only wavered slightly as the kunai cut through it, he felt his frown grow deeper.

_Bunshin_, he thought, turning in place to scan the area around him. Soft chiming noises filled the air as yet another bell-adorned needle struck the ground, this one barely a meter away from him, but he felt a sense of triumph; he had seen where that one came from, and he reached for another pair of kunai before changing his mind.

The bells were still ringing, their sounds oddly hypnotic, but he shook off his momentary lethargy and moved his hands rapidly through the seals for his chosen technique. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" he called out, exhaling to form a massive fireball that enveloped the entire bush behind which his opponent had to be hiding. In the light of the flame, he saw what appeared to be fine wires coming off of the bells around him, but his fireball evaporated before he could take a closer look—leaving behind nothing but the charred skeleton of the bush.

Laughter, sounding eerily like the chiming of the bells, surrounded Sasuke on all sides, and in some distant corner of his mind he realized he could no longer hear the noise of his teammates' battles. The bells grew gradually louder, until he almost thought he could make out words within their sounds.

"Not there!" one seemed to mock. "Over here!" came from the one behind him. "No, I'm here!" The words and the ringing were starting to blend together, forming a cacophonous noise completely unlike the bells' first gentle chimes, and he began to grow dizzy from the assault on his ears. He knew it had to be a genjutsu of some sort, but as he searched for any trace of the Sound genin, he found himself unable to break it despite Kurenai's training.

One hand, still clutching a kunai, swept up automatically to block yet another needle from hitting him, but the bell on it only added to the tumult around him as it fell to the ground. When his opponent casually stepped out from what appeared to his blurring vision to be thin air, he ran straight for her, no longer caring about winning—only about stopping the noise. As he swept his kunai out in a vicious strike that would have decapitated her, though, the girl's figure wavered and split into three copies of itself.

"I guess Dosu was right," all three chimed thoughtfully. "Orochimaru-sama will be disappointed to learn how weak the Uchiha really are, though. Or, I suppose, were. You wouldn't have a chance of surviving the seal if you can't even beat me, so there's no point in keeping you alive."

_Weak…no point keeping you alive…not worth killing…going to let you live…_ The Sound kunoichi's words began to give way to the ones his brother had spoken so many years ago, and Sasuke felt himself begin to tremble in rage as the memories of that day nearly six years ago filled his mind.

"No!" he yelled over the ringing of the bells. "I won't let you! I have to kill him!" As the words left his mouth, he felt something inside himself begin to change, and the world around him changed in its wake. His vision, formerly blurred due to his enemy's genjutsu, sharpened to an inhuman level of sensitivity, while the three images in front of him grew pale and translucent. All around him, he could see a faintly glowing mist which he knew had to be the chakra forming the genjutsu which had entrapped him, and the lines he thought he had seen coming off of the bells earlier snapped into gleaming relief.

"I suppose I should thank you," Sasuke said as he cut the lines linking his attacker to her bells, his voice cold and distant in the sudden silence. If he could see his eyes, he knew they would be red now, with swirling comma-shaped pupils along their irises.

_Sharingan…I'm coming for you, brother._ After he defeated this girl, and anyone else who dared to call him weak.

- - -

Author's Notes: Well, I don't really have a whole lot to say this time, I guess. Naruto as paramedic? It seems to make sense given his personality here, though I have no intention of making him a full-fledged medic-nin. The bell-girl is a fair amount more dangerous here than in canon, but that's due more to the different environments than anything else; when she fights against Shikamaru, they're in a bare, open arena with no cover, distractions, or anything else. I always thought the setup of the third part of the exams was more than a little biased against genjutsu and stealth experts, so I decided to make her a bit nastier here.

Anyways, thank you all for reading, and special thanks to those of you who reviewed last time! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.


	17. Sixteen: Promises Kept and Broken

As the three members of Team Seven moved through the forest, Hinata continuously scanned her surroundings with her byakugan, determined not to let anyone ambush her team again. She was burning through her chakra reserves at a steady rate, though, and hoped they would reach the tower at the center of the forest soon; she had caught glimpses of it already when she focused her eyesight in its direction, but it was still at least another half hour's travel away at the rate they were going.

Beside her, Sakura seemed to be holding up well, only the slight grimace on her face betraying the lingering pain she had to be feeling from her earlier wound. Still, though, the sooner they exited the forest and got her to a proper medic-nin, the better; it wasn't that Hinata thought Naruto had done a poor job—if anything, she had been amazed at how calmly and efficiently he had acted—but she would continue to worry until her friend's injury was properly examined and treated.

She froze momentarily as the ghostly outlines of three humans slipped barely into her field of vision, the first she had seen since their earlier, almost disastrous encounter with the Rain team. "I see one team behind us and to the right," she said, tapping her teammates' shoulders and pointing in the exact direction. "They're about sixty meters away, traveling a little faster than we are, and I don't think they know we're here."

"Anyone you recognize?" Naruto asked. Hinata saw his fingers twitch slightly, as if reaching for a kunai or preparing to form seals, and she put a hand on his arm.

"I don't—wait, yes," she said slowly, nodding her head as the other team drew slightly closer, allowing her to make out their chakra signatures more precisely. "It's Team Eight, and I think they've been in a fight already."

The swarm of insects around Shino was unmistakeable to her enhanced vision, glittering like a cloud of stars in constant motion. They shone somewhat more brightly than usual at the moment, leading her to suspect he had used them to drain someone of his or her chakra. Then something even more noteworthy caught her attention, and she gasped audibly.

"Sasuke…I think he's managed to activate his sharingan!" she exclaimed. She couldn't be sure from this far away, but the chakra coil structure in his upper torso and head was far denser and more intricately interconnected than she remembered seeing even the previous day, and she could think of only one thing that would have caused such a dramatic change.

While Naruto did not look impressed, Sakura's wide-eyed expression of surprise and dismay more than made up for it. "That's not good," she said, biting her lip thoughtfully. "Or…well, it _is_ good, I guess, just not right now. We—all of us—need to get out of here as soon as we can."

"What's so bad about it?" Naruto asked, echoing Hinata's thoughts. "Yeah, now he's going to act like he's got a steel rod up his butt instead of just a stick, but as much as I hate to admit it, the Uchiha—and especially the sharingan—were one of the big reasons why we've always been the strongest of the hidden villages."

Sakura's expression turned stormy. "Haven't you wondered why we haven't seen even a trace of anything that might be remotely connected to Orochimaru yet?" she asked, her injury apparently making her a bit short-tempered. "Sarutobi-shishou and Kakashi-sensei both seemed almost positive he was going to stage some sort of attack during this part of the exams, and it makes a lot of sense. So, why wouldn't he attack earlier, when we were all scattered and distracted by trying to avoid the other teams?

"Because he didn't know if he could get what he wanted," she continued, answering her own question before either Hinata or Naruto could say anything. "I would bet you _anything_ that if Sasuke does have his sharingan now, it's because of an attack Orochimaru set up. Now he can get the sharingan, the byakugan—" she gestured to Hinata, who felt herself shiver— "and whatever else he's interested in."

Naruto's face paled, and he visibly winced at that prospect. "We should go meet them, then," he said. "All of us should stay close together until we reach the tower, just in case anything happens."

"I agree," Hinata said. She had been watching for the other teams ever since they went into the forest, but for some reason, they had apparently been given widely scattered starting positions. That made little sense to her, as it seemed that their chances of survival would be greater in numbers, but Naruto had supplied an obvious—if discomfiting—explanation when she mentioned that to him.

_Bait_, she remembered his words. _We look like easier targets if we're not obviously prepared to defend each other._ It was the same reason the three teams had always been at least nominal opponents during the training exercises, even the ones when their jounin-sensei attacked them—so that they wouldn't get too used to relying on another team's capabilities. She knew he was right, and on an intellectual level she could understand that reason, but it made them far too dependant on the ANBU agents supposedly shadowing the three rookie teams.

If the elite ninja were watching them, though, Hinata had been unable to see them, and that lack made her uneasy—not because she thought she and the others would have been deliberately abandoned, but more out of worry that Orochimaru had discovered the trap set for him and found a way to evade it. Something as enormous as preparing to defend the village against potential attack had no doubt required massive amounts of planning, and even if their own role was only one small part of the whole, it was entirely possible that whatever spies the Sound had within the Leaf had learned about it.

"Hinata-chan? Are they still there?"

Hinata shook off her concerns when she heard Naruto's voice. Even if something had gone wrong with the plan, there was nothing she could do about it. "They're almost due east of us now," she said. "Shino should have detected us by now, so we won't have to worry about surprising them."

Her guess turned out to be accurate; all three genin of Team Eight actually seemed relieved when Hinata and her teammates stepped into view, though they—sensibly, in her opinion—did not relax their guard. Each of them bore signs of injury, and even Kiba's tiny canine companion had streaks of blood marring its white fur.

"Wow, you guys look awful. Somebody must've pounded you really well," Naruto commented, causing Hinata to groan and shake her head. She had long ago given up on ever teaching her friend the importance of tact, but she refused to believe even he could be _this_ clueless; he had to be doing it on purpose, probably to get a rise out of Sasuke.

Much to her surprise, the Uchiha simply shrugged. One look at his eyes gave her the reason, though, and she smiled. While the Hyuuga, unlike their distant cousins, possessed their bloodline abilities from birth, that did not mean they could use them that early, and Hinata still vividly remembered the first time she successfully activated her byakugan. It was literally a window to an entirely different world, and if Sasuke was feeling anything even remotely close to how she had at that time, she fully understood why he probably didn't care in the slightest what his rival had to say.

"I can smell blood on you too," Kiba snorted, as if to make up for his teammate's apparent apathy, "so don't act like you're so perfect." He sounded tired, though, and his remark lacked the fire it normally would have had. Hinata noticed he seemed to be more concerned with his dog's health than with arguing, and she supposed she couldn't blame him for that.

Shino simply nodded slightly to the three members of Team Seven. Of his teammates, he had the fewest number of visible injuries, but he appeared somewhat unsteady on his feet. "We were attacked by the Sound team when they realized they would not be able to ambush us," he said unceremoniously. "They have been taken care of, and we are still in adequate fighting condition."

"Sound?" Sakura asked, her head whipping around to stare at him so quickly that Hinata was afraid she might strain her neck. "Have you seen anyone else since you fought them? Or even any trails from people who came through here before us?"

Shino shook his head, as did, somewhat reluctantly, Kiba. "Akamaru was tracking someone earlier, but the scent stopped a little ways back," the Inuzuka said. "You're the first ones we've found since then."

"We're getting close enough to the objective that there should be signs of other teams, but Hinata-chan hasn't seen anyone either," Sakura said, her face scrunched up in what Hinata had come to recognize as her 'thinking mode.' She exchanged a long look with Shino, who nodded again. It was difficult for Hinata to read his half-concealed expression, but Sakura's might as well have been an open book to her, and her pink-haired teammate looked visibly frightened.

It was Hinata's turn to frown as she realized what her teammate was implying. Given the random starting points for the various teams, it was possible that the only two teams Orochimaru was certain to be interested in had started in the same general area through pure chance, but it began to stretch the bounds of coincidence when the Sound team just happened to end up nearby as well. Sixteen teams had passed the first part of the exam, so if four teams had started from roughly each compass direction—and Team Seven had already eliminated the fourth nearby team—then there would be nobody else in a position to help them or even _hear_ them if they were attacked at some point.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Naruto asked, looking around at the other genin. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather be a moving target than a stationary one."

Everyone, even Kiba and Sasuke, nodded in agreement, and with that, they set off—united, at least for the moment.

- - -

During her training as a ninja, Sakura had come to rely on her unusually sharp danger sense, despite the fact that she suspected it was somehow an artifact of the seal containing the Nine-Tails. Even though the demon had said it was completely contained, with no way to affect or be affected by the outside world unless she herself forced it to do so, there were any number of ways the seal's mere presence could affect her body's chakra patterns.

At the moment, though, she was far more concerned with why she, along with Hinata, Shino, and even Kiba, had somehow failed to notice the twenty-foot-long snake blocking their path until they almost literally ran into it. A snake the size of a ramen stall was _not_ an easy thing to conceal—or, at least, that was what Sakura would have said up until today. While it was making no overtly threatening moves towards the two teams, she very much doubted they had run across it simply by chance, especially given the title by which Orochimaru was commonly known.

As if summoned by her thoughts, a high, menacing voice suddenly spoke from behind the genin. "Don't worry about my pet," it—based on the voice, Sakura honestly had no idea whether the speaker was male or female—said. "She won't bother you unless you try to run."

Fear began to fill Sakura as she turned to see who had spoken, even though she could almost certainly guess. While the man casually standing a short distance away looked nothing like the pictures of Orochimaru she had seen, he could be no-one else; as if the unnaturally huge snake hadn't been enough of a clue, he exuded an air of menace like no human Sakura had ever met, and there was a covetous gleam in his eyes as he examined the assembled genin.

"Ah, how wonderful," Orochimaru said, his lips curling into a slight smile. "An Uchiha, a Hyuuga, and…what's this?"

Sakura realized he was looking straight at her, and she felt her fear turn into outright panic. He knew who—and what—she was, and she very much doubted that breaking the Third's law would bother him in the slightest. Naruto and Hinata already knew about her, but not the members of Team Eight, and they were some of the last people she would want to find out. Despite their recent civility towards her in the wake of the past few weeks of training together, she still hadn't forgotten how Kiba and, to a lesser extent, Sasuke had tormented her at the ninja academy.

"I'm surprised you were even allowed to become a genin, let alone enter this exam, Haruno-san." Oh yes, Orochimaru clearly knew exactly what he was doing; the malicious expression on his face as he stared at her was obvious proof. Then, to her surprise, he shifted his gaze slightly and stepped forward.

"I must remember to thank whoever drafted your genin team assignments," he murmured to Naruto, as if sharing a private joke with him. "Even I could never have come up with such a deliciously ironic punishment for your father as the thought of having his precious son on the same team as—"

Whatever else the Snake Sannin intended to say was drowned out by Naruto's sudden yell. "Don't you dare talk about my father, or about Sakura-chan!" he shouted, lunging forward with a brace of kunai clutched in his hands. "You don't know _anything_, you sadistic bastard!"

Sakura watched, eyes wide, as Orochimaru slid bonelessly around Naruto, not even bothering to block his attack. Part of her was screaming for her to go help her teammate, but her horror at how close Orochimaru had come to revealing her secret—even more than Naruto's half-remembered warning to avoid fighting because of her leg injury—left her frozen in place as the other genin moved to join the developing melee.

"You bore me, boy," Orochimaru said as he dodged every one of Naruto's strikes with such fluid speed that it almost seemed he wasn't moving at all. "It's almost too bad your father didn't live long enough to teach you any of his fancy tricks, because as it is, you're just another pathetic bump in my path."

As if to punctuate his statement, he lashed out with a viper-quick punch to Naruto's midsection that sent the blond genin staggering backwards to the ground, gasping for breath. When he moved to follow up, though, he found both Hinata and Sasuke blocking him while Shino and Kiba formed a second line of defense in front of Naruto. To Sakura's surprise, he actually nodded to them in a brief show of respect.

"My congratulations, Uchiha Sasuke. It seems my genin were successful in awakening your potential; consider it a…gift, perhaps the first of many." The satisfied smile that appeared on Orochimaru's pale face was somehow more frightening than anything else Sakura had seen of him, until the meaning of his words struck her. He sounded like he was trying to _recruit_ Sasuke.

Fortunately for her peace of mind—she might not have liked the Uchiha heir, but she doubted anyone who followed Orochimaru would have a long or pleasant life—Sasuke didn't even bother to dignify the missing-nin's comment with a response before moving to attack him. Unlike Naruto's almost frenzied charge, Sasuke's blows were precise, measured, and equally ineffective.

Sakura could see he was beginning to grow frustrated as he proved unable to land a hit even with the assistance of his sharingan, but she could also see he was aware of something Orochimaru was not—namely, Hinata, who had edged away from the fight and was now approaching from the rear. As Sasuke continued to attack, Sakura noticed he seemed to be coming closer and closer to hitting Orochimaru, and she wondered if it was due to his sharingan or if the older ninja was simply taunting him.

When Hinata struck, it was with an open-palmed blow to the juncture of the Snake Sannin's skull and neck—a killing strike for a jyuuken practitioner, Sakura remembered from watching her practice. To Sakura's horror, though, Orochimaru absorbed the hit without even stumbling, and faster than she could even follow, he turned and grabbed Hinata's wrist before pivoting and throwing her hard into Sasuke. Both genin tumbled to the ground.

"Clever, ruthless, and obviously talented," he mused, stepping back from the two momentarily stunned genin. "On the surface, you appear the model Hyuuga, but…tell me, Hyuuga heir, what would you do for the power to change your clan?"

Not waiting for an answer, he turned slightly. "And you, last of the Uchiha? I knew your brother well. I can tell you everything about him—everything you would need to know in order to avenge your family's destruction."

Sakura felt as though her heart was stuck somewhere in her throat, and she wondered what could possibly be taking the ANBU patrols so long to arrive. It was obvious that Orochimaru was simply playing with them, and she winced as she saw the hungry expression that momentarily appeared on Sasuke's face before he shook his head. Hinata's expression gave nothing away, but Sakura knew her friend's secret hope and wouldn't be surprised if she had been momentarily tempted as well.

Before either Leaf genin could stand, though, a small sphere of compressed air, visible thanks to the chakra holding it together, slammed into Orochimaru's chest accompanied by Naruto's cry of, "Fuuton: Renkuudan!" Though it only briefly staggered him, Sakura could see the surprise on his face as her teammate, along with Shino and Kiba, stepped forward. Perched on Kiba's shoulder, Akamaru glowed faintly red with built-up chakra—the effect of a soldier pill, Sakura assumed—and bared his teeth in a snarl.

"You're as stubborn as your father," Orochimaru said dismissively, regaining his composure. "Unfortunately for you, without his skills, it seems the Kazama line will end here."

When he stepped forward to attack, though, he froze in mid-stride. Sakura wondered if it was yet another game on his part, but the cause was revealed when the bushes behind her parted and Ino, along with three older Leaf genin, walked out. Chouji and Shikamaru appeared behind Naruto a few moments later, apparently having split off from the others to form a second point of attack. Though she was impossibly glad to see them, she also felt like yelling at them to run away, as Shikamaru was sweating with the effort required to hold Orochimaru in place and couldn't last much longer. Then Ino formed a series of hand seals before collapsing to the ground, and she knew what their plan was.

To Sakura's astonishment, Orochimaru began to laugh, even as two of the genin with Ino stepped forward while the third remained behind to guard her body. Moments later, Sakura inwardly rejoiced at the abrupt cessation of his laughter, which, along with the slack expression on his face, was a clear sign that Ino had successfully taken over his body.

Before any of the other genin could approach him to restrain him, however, the expression on his face shifted to one of sheer horror, and he began to tremble as much as Shikamaru's shadow bindings allowed. With a piercing wail that sounded like it was ripped from the throat of a dying animal, he flung his head back, and on the ground behind Sakura, Ino's body first twitched, then convulsed spasmodically. As Orochimaru fell silent, Ino's back arched upwards, her face set in a rictus of agony.

"Amusing," the Snake Sannin—very obviously back in control of his own body—stated as he casually broke free of Shikamaru's binding technique, causing the genin to stumble backwards and give a brief, pained cry. "You begin to tire me, though. Consider my offers well, young Uchiha and Hyuuga."

Without even a hint of warning, he vanished, leaving the assembled genin staring at nothing more than a patch of empty air. As Sakura glanced back and forth between where he had stood a moment earlier and Ino, who was now lying on the ground, curled into a tight ball with her face pressed between her knees, she saw the giant snake which had been blocking the path towards the tower begin to slither rapidly forwards.

"Look out!" she yelled, even as her mind raced to think of a way to disable or kill a snake capable of swallowing any of them whole. True to their instincts and training, the others did not turn to see what she was talking about but instead dove out of the way, just before it slammed straight into the middle of the group.

_Where are the ANBU?_ Sakura frantically wondered. _Kakashi-sensei _promised_ us we wouldn't be alone out here._ Orochimaru might have decided to let them live, for whatever reason, but it seemed he had no qualms about allowing his pet to kill them if it could. More than anything, she wished she could help her friends, and for what had to be the hundredth time she cursed the ineptitude that had led to her leg injury.

There was something else she could do, though, she realized. She might not be able to help her teammates or the other genin—now attacking the snake more confidently as they started to grow accustomed to its movements—but she could at least check on Ino. Whatever Orochimaru had done to her, it seemed to have hurt her badly.

_I said I wouldn't let anything happen to her, but it looks like I'm a failure at that too_, Sakura thought. Never mind that there was no possible way she could have prevented whatever had happened; logic was no comfort next to the sight of her best friend lying on the ground. The older genin kneeling next to Ino appeared to be trying to uncurl her from the fetal position she had assumed, presumably in order to better be able to judge her condition.

Something about the situation was nagging at Sakura, though, and while her danger sense had already failed her once today, she knew not to ignore it. Taking a closer look at the genin, she saw he was reaching for something strapped to his leg—perhaps a medical kit, she thought, but her unease grew even stronger at the sight. The cause was revealed moments later when he pulled out a black-coated knife, slightly larger than a standard kunai, and grabbed a handful of Ino's hair to yank her head roughly back and expose her throat.

There was no time to call to one of the others for help, or even to consider what to do. Sakura had seconds at most to act, and if she failed, Ino would be dead. She would not—could not—let that happen, yet she was still nearly halfway across the small clearing from them. Her only chance lay in something she had theorized about following her team's mission to the borderlands, but it was something she had never actually tried or even fully thought through the details of how it might work.

She had never forgotten what the Hokage had said about the Wind Engraving technique he had taught her; _'As long as the pattern is clear enough and your will strong enough,'_ he had told her, she would be able to form her chakra into anything she could imagine. Now, with raw, desperate need fueling her will and a brutally simple pattern etched across her mind's eye, she prayed he was correct. The technique had not been designed for the use she intended to make of it, not even remotely, but she would force it to work or die trying.

"Fuuton: Fuuinkoku no Jutsu!" she cried out, even as the knife began to descend towards Ino's throat. A single guiding line of chakra—she might not be able to see it, but she _knew_ it was there; she refused to consider any other possibility—linked her clasped hands with the traitorous genin's chest, and, gathering every last bit of her chakra, she forced it into the technique. Emptying her reserves so completely would bring her to the edge of death, but that didn't matter, not if it saved Ino.

As her vision blurred and darkened, Sakura began to collapse, but not before she saw the older genin reel backwards and away from Ino, his knife falling from his hand. He fell heavily to the ground and showed no signs of getting up again, and she breathed a silent sigh of relief at the sight. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of several powerful techniques being used, and she assumed her other friends had managed to kill Orochimaru's summoned snake.

_They're all safe now,_ she managed to think, a smile forming on her lips even as her consciousness fled.

- - -

Ino was unsure if she would ever fully remember what had happened following her failed attempt to take over Orochimaru's body. In retrospect, it had been a monumentally foolish idea, but she could never have guessed the true extent of her mistake beforehand. Even now, as she ran nearly mindlessly with the others towards the tower at the center of the forest as fast as she could, she still felt filthy—so much so that part of her wondered if she would ever feel clean again.

There was nothing at all to which she could compare the experience. Normally, when she used her technique on someone, she simply assumed control of the person's body; his or her own mind was still there, and she could 'feel' it struggling to push her out, but there was no real contact between them other than that. Somehow Orochimaru had found a way to go beyond that, forcing an unending stream of vile, nauseating imagery into Ino's own mind—and the truly horrifying part of it was that in some way she knew they were his actual memories, not simple imaginings he had dreamed up to unbalance her.

Even that, though, paled in comparison to the sheer _wrongness_ she had felt in the brief moment before he pushed her out of his body. The times she used her technique on Shino, with the thousands of insects living inside him, had been disconcerting enough, but they were nothing compared to what she had sensed from the Snake Sannin. If she didn't know he had once been an ordinary—albeit powerful—Leaf ninja, she would have wondered if he was even human, given the way her mind had reacted to his body.

"Are you okay, Ino-chan?"

Hinata's concerned voice intruded upon the darkness of Ino's thoughts, and she shook her head in an attempt to dispel the lingering remnants of what had happened. She wasn't okay, not yet, but she would be—thanks largely to one person.

"I'm…better," she said, not willing to lie to her friend. That was one skill she had never mastered. "How is Sakura-chan?"

Both girls looked worriedly back over their shoulders to where Chouji was carrying their unconscious friend. She seemed absurdly fragile in his arms, and as if that wasn't enough, Naruto had a troubled look on his face as he periodically checked her pulse.

Hinata frowned grimly, the expression seeming somehow out of place on her ordinarily serene face. "As long as her heart doesn't stop again, Naruto thinks she'll make it," she said. "At least until we get her out of here and to some real medics."

_Heart…stop?_ Hinata continued to speak, but all Ino could focus on were those two words. She didn't remember anything like that, and the knowledge that she had been the cause, even if only indirectly, sent a sickening wave of guilt through her. She remembered virtually nothing of the minutes between when Orochimaru had ejected her from his body and when she had woken up to the rare sight of open concern on Shikamaru's face as he leaned over her—only fragmentary glimpses of the boy who was supposed to be guarding her leaning over her with a tanto visible in his hand, followed by Sakura looking at him and desperately shouting something.

The fact that she had woken up unharmed, her attacker lying several meters away from her with a ragged, fist-sized hole punched through his chest, was enough for her to figure out what must have happened. She had had no idea Sakura knew any attack ninjutsu that powerful, though—and, as it turned out, she didn't. Her friend—her selfless, brilliant, _stupid_ best friend—had channeled nearly every single scrap of her chakra into what Naruto had identified as a short-range technique designed to carve wood or soft stone…and while the end result had been something capable of killing a person from a dozen meters away, the price had apparently nearly been Sakura's own life.

_Don't do things like that_, she thought, wishing there was some way to convey her words to Sakura's unconscious form. _If you died because of me…_ She couldn't complete the thought, even in the privacy of her own mind. Quite honestly, she had no idea what she would do in a situation like that, and even the idea of finding out terrified her.

"We're near the tower," Hinata said absently, her attention clearly focused elsewhere. "In fact, I think I see the gates just ahead. And…yes, Kabuto-san is coming back, probably to tell the others."

Ino still wasn't sure what to make of the two older Leaf genin, given that their teammate had tried to kill her. They had seemed horrified by his action, and she had to admit that Kabuto in particular had been quite helpful ever since her team met up with theirs, but part of her couldn't quite manage to trust them. Shikamaru's suggestion that the one who had attacked her had done so because he was afraid she would be able to expose him as a traitor, based on whatever she had seen in Orochimaru's mind, made a certain amount of sense, and it notably did not rule out the possibility that the other two were Sound spies as well—just more cautious ones.

Ino almost had to laugh to herself at that idea, though. The Mind-Switch technique worked nothing like that, and she was sure her father would be interested in hearing how Orochimaru had been able to communicate directly with her while she was inhabiting his body. She probably would have been interested as well, if it had happened to someone else, but as it was she only hoped she would be able to forget what the sadistic missing-nin had shown her—and the sooner that happened, the better.

The sight of the tower complex's gates as the group of genin exited the trees was the best thing she had seen in ages, she thought. They had all made it past the second part of the exam, and even though she harbored no delusion that they had defeated Orochimaru—she had _felt_ his satisfaction at how the brief skirmish had gone, like a taste of rancid oil lingering at the back of her mouth—they were truly safe for now.

- - -

Naruto desperately wanted to go check on Sakura, who had been taken away by a group of efficient-looking medic-nins almost before the three rookie teams had even entered the tower complex at the center of the training ground, and he could tell several of the others shared that desire. Unfortunately, he, along with the rest of the genin who had managed to make it through the forest, was currently stuck waiting in an empty room for someone to come and explain what was going on.

Looking around, he could see that he was far from the only one who was unhappy with that situation, and the expressions on some of their faces—especially Neji's team and the three Sand genin, all of whom had taken a completely different approach to the tower and consequently had no idea what had happened to the others—promised violence if no explanation was forthcoming. He himself just wanted to know what had happened to the ANBU squads that were supposed to come if Orochimaru attacked, even if he doubted he would learn anything about that now, or possibly ever.

"Good, you're all here," a Leaf jounin pronounced, walking in through the open double doors at the far end of the room. "You should be proud of yourselves; this is the first time in several years that we've had to hold a preliminary elimination round, but this year's candidates are clearly of excellent quality if so many of you have managed to make it this far."

_Tell us something we don't know_, Naruto thought cynically. _I bet psycho snake-summoning freaks aren't usually part of the exams, either, so does that mean we're extra-good?_ He felt Hinata place a hand on his arm, then winced as she squeezed it tightly. Looking over at her, she seemed completely unaware of what she was doing—not surprising, given her distant, anxious expression.

"Elimination round?" one of the older Leaf genin—Kabuto's teammate, who still appeared somewhat dazed after the revelation that his _other_ teammate had been a traitor—asked. "But…we've been fighting all day. What are we going to have to do now?"

The jounin turned to walk back through the large doors behind him, gesturing for the gathered genin to follow. "The final round of the exams consists of a series of single-elimination matches between the candidates who have made it this far," he said as they entered what appeared to be a small arena. "However, there are too many of you to take part in the main event this year, so we're going to hold one round now to eliminate half of you."

Naruto, who had been expecting something like this since the jounin's first words, simply shrugged. He was running low on energy—both chakra and in the traditional sense—but so was everyone else, with the apparent exception of the Sand team, so that wouldn't be much of a disadvantage. Straight sparring matches were his specialty in any event. Then something else occurred to him, but before he could open his mouth, Ino beat him to it.

"What about Sakura-chan?" his blonde friend asked loudly, cutting through the noise generated by the other genins' chatter. "She's not going to be in any shape to fight for a few days, probably."

"Haruno Sakura will not be participating, as she has already been eliminated," the jounin said, his mouth thinning into a tight line. "I believe Morino-san informed everyone of the consequences for killing someone during the course of the exams, did he not?"

Naruto felt his mouth fall open, and Hinata's hand dropped off of his arm as she took a step backward in astonishment. The other rookie Leaf genin—even, to his mild surprise, Kiba and Sasuke—appeared equally disbelieving, while Ino turned red-faced with anger. Naruto winced as he anticipated the upcoming explosion, but when it came, it wasn't what he had expected.

"She _saved_ my _life_," Ino hissed into the sudden silence. "From a 'Leaf' genin, no less—except he obviously wasn't, was he?"

The jounin turned to look at her. "We have considered that," he said, a hint of threat evident in his voice. "If not, she would be in a cell right now, rather than simply barred from further competition in the exams."

Clenching her hands into tight fists, Ino turned and stormed away. "Maybe if you examiners had actually done your jobs, Sakura wouldn't have had to kill anyone, but now you're going to punish her for it?" she called back over her shoulder. "Fine, since it was my fault she had to do it, you can go ahead and eliminate me too!"

Chouji and Shikamaru both looked like they wanted to follow her, and Hinata actually started to, but Naruto pulled her back. Ordinarily he hated taking advantage of the admiration most ninja seemed to have for him, whether due to who his father had been or his own status as an up-and-coming 'genius,' but this was different; he knew they wouldn't start the fights without him, which made him the obvious choice to go after Ino and talk to her. He shared her anger at the jounin's decision, but he doubted Sakura would have wanted her to forfeit as well in some misguided show of solidarity.

He found her sitting curled up on a bench in the furthest corner of the anteroom where they had been waiting before entering the arena, staring down at her feet as though they were the most interesting things in the world. Her expression was not one he could remember ever seeing on her face before now, and he felt his own habitual smile slip as he sat down next to her. She didn't say anything at first, and for a moment he wondered if she would acknowledge his presence at all.

"Why, exactly, does everyone hate Sakura so much?" Ino asked after a while, causing his eyes to widen in surprise; that was definitely not what he had been expecting her to say. "Don't bother telling me you don't know, either. I saw you and Hinata in there, and you were surprised when that…that jounin said that, but not like the rest of us. I told her I wouldn't ask her about things she didn't want to tell me, but I never said anything about not asking _you_."

Naruto paled. When Ino was truly serious about something—which was about as often as he himself was, he admitted—she had a tendency to get what she wanted, if only out of pure stubbornness. The problem was, this time he absolutely could not tell her what she wanted to know, not without breaking that law Kakashi had told them about.

"I can't tell you," he said finally, after a long time spent considering what to say. He knew he wasn't the most gifted with words, and he didn't want to hurt Ino by explaining things poorly. "Even if I could, I wouldn't. It's something only Sakura really has the right to explain, and Hinata and I only know because of an accident. Just…trust her, okay?"

Ino gave him a very strange look, as though she doubted his sanity. "Of course I trust her," she said. "She's my best friend, and I'd be dead right now if she hadn't saved me."

"Isn't that enough, then?" Naruto asked, mentally crossing his fingers. He honestly wasn't sure what he would do if she kept asking; she had been his friend for a long time, and keeping things from her felt strange.

"Maybe it's not Sakura I'm starting to wonder if I should trust," Ino muttered, quietly enough that he doubted she had intended for him to be able to hear her. To his relief, though, she then smiled slightly at him and stood up, offering him a hand up as well.

"I guess we should go back in, huh?" she asked. "After I walked out, I realized Sakura probably wouldn't be very happy if I quit because of her. So instead, I'm going to win for her, assuming that arrogant, self-righteous ass of an examiner will still let me compete."

Naruto grinned at her as they walked back into the arena. That was much more like the Ino he knew, and he wouldn't be surprised if she found some way to do exactly as she said—though she would have to get past him to do it.

- - -

Author's Notes: So, no cursed seal--or seals...yet, at least. And that's _all_ I'm going to say on that matter. Hopefully Orochimaru came across as as creepy, arrogant, and generally sinister as I intended. There's also the question of what happened to the ANBU who were supposed to capture Orochimaru if he showed up, but given his track record in canon, that one should be fairly easy to guess at. Preliminary fights will be next chapter, along with some other things.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it! Even if you didn't, though, I would welcome your comments.


	18. Seventeen: Consequences

_Why do I have a feeling that this is going to hurt?_ Naruto asked himself as he stared across the arena at his opponent. _Oh, yeah…probably because it will._

Ino grinned back at him, a predatory glimmer in her eyes. He found it monumentally ironic that he would have to fight—and most likely beat—her barely minutes after she declared her intention to win the tournament, but he had to admit that he was looking forward to the fight itself. They were well matched for the most part; though he was somewhat better overall, there were no glaring disparities in their skill levels, and based on their academy sparring matches, she would be able to give him a good match—which led back to his initial thought.

Unlike when he sparred with Hinata, whose fighting style revolved around speed and precision rather than strength, Naruto had a feeling he would be walking away from this with more than a few nasty bruises. Ino was _strong_ by kunoichi standards—or even male standards, probably an artifact of her large chakra reserves—and she didn't hesitate to take advantage of that when sparring. In this fight, where anything was allowed except instantly lethal attacks, according to the examiner, he doubted she would hold back at all; of course, he had no plans to do so either, which was part of what made the whole thing so fun.

The moment the examiner's hand dropped, Naruto dove to the side, just as Ino leapt into sudden motion. As he had expected, she chose to begin with a direct attack—one that likely would have caught him off guard, he had to admit, if he had not been prepared for it. He was, though, and he cleanly evaded her, following up with a kick that grazed the side of her leg.

Ino tucked herself into a crouch, turning the momentum of her initial strike into a spinning leg sweep that Naruto managed to jump over. As he backpedaled to put some distance between them, he reached into his kunai holster and, when she had committed herself to another straight-line attack, threw several of the knives at her in such a way that no matter how she dodged, she would leave herself open to his counterattack. To his surprise and dismay, though, she just crossed her arms in front of herself and kept coming; only then did he notice the armored bracers she was wearing on her forearms, which quite capably deflected his kunai.

Naruto's surprise left him open for a split second, which Ino took advantage of by rocking him backwards with a short, powerful kick just below his ribs. Despite the pain spiking through him from the hit, he was able to weave around her follow-up strike, though she in turn dodged his counter and nearly succeeded in trapping his arm in what he recognized as a pain-hold that would have led to a particularly unpleasant throw.

_I have to open the range_, he thought. He and Ino were too closely matched in taijutsu, something on which she was clearly counting, as she was making every effort to keep him close. If he could get away from her, though, he would be able to bring ninjutsu into play, and he definitely outclassed her there. It would be simple if only there were any nearby objects he could use as substitutes for kawarimi, but the arena floor was barren of anything like that.

Then Naruto noticed the kunai from his previous attack lying scattered on the ground. While he had never tried switching with something so small before now, it was worth an attempt; he was fairly certain he could eventually manage to beat Ino even if he remained in close-combat range, but it would be much closer—not to mention more painful—than he liked. Deliberately leaving himself open after a high block in order to draw her attention away from his hands, he formed the technique's hand seal and focused his chakra into it.

A disconcerting stretching sensation filled him as he felt it activate, quite unlike any other time he had used it, and he staggered briefly as a huge portion of his chakra was consumed. It worked, though, and he spun in place to see Ino with her foot extended in what would have been a straight kick directly to the center of his chest. She recovered quickly and turned to see where Naruto had gone, but he was already weaving his hands through the seals for a second technique, one that would hopefully end the fight.

"Raiton: Rakurai no Jutsu!" he called out, squeezing his eyes tightly shut as he formed the final hand seal. It would be less effective in the brightly lit arena than it had been against Sasuke the night of their first exercise with the other teams, but the Lightning Flash technique his mother had taught him should still be more than sufficient to blind Ino temporarily.

_Success!_ he thought, hearing her pained cry. While the technique wasn't physically damaging, it was extremely unpleasant to be subjected to, and he felt a moment of sympathy for his friend—though that quickly vanished when a slight movement drew his attention to the various bruises she had inflicted on him since the fight began. Opening his eyes, he saw she had already begun to adjust to her temporary blindness, a single powerful jump taking her out of range of anything he might do to immediately attack her. Her eyes were watering freely, though, and he could tell by the way she looked near him rather than directly at him that he had all but won already.

Surprisingly, however, she began to form a series of hand seals, causing Naruto to wonder what she could be doing. Though they were too far apart for it to be any kind of direct attack ninjutsu he was aware of, that didn't mean he intended to stand around and wait for her to do whatever it was she was doing. He ran towards her in a wide arc that would hopefully allow him to flank her, taking advantage of the fact that she could have only a rough idea of his position, but she noticeably flinched and stumbled backwards before he could get close enough to use a technique of his own.

_What was that?_ he wondered, not missing the almost frightened expression on Ino's face. Perhaps she had attempted to use a genjutsu technique on him but had it backfire on her. There was no time to consider the question further, though, as he was now in range to attack her. She was already beginning to recover from whatever had affected her, as well as from the blindness caused by his earlier technique, and he knew his window of opportunity would not last long.

"Fuuton: Renkuudan!" he shouted, thrusting his hands forward as he formed the final seal. He wished he could use something stronger, but he found himself in the highly unusual—at least for him—position of being close to exhausting his chakra reserves. He had already been tired coming into the fight, and trying to use kawarimi with such a small replacement object had drained him even further.

The small sphere of chakra-charged air that shot towards Ino proved to be enough, though, striking her heavily in the stomach and causing her to collapse to her knees. Before she could stand again, Naruto closed the distance between them and held a kunai to her throat. Though he doubted she could see anything more than a smear of colors yet, there was no way she could mistake the feel of the knife edge against her skin.

"I concede," Ino called out, more than a hint of bitterness in her voice. Naruto was surprised, as he had sparred with her many times before, and she almost always took her losses with good grace. That, even more than her not-insignificant skill, was part of why he enjoyed matches with her; while he knew Sasuke would provide more of a challenge, the other boy took everything much too seriously for Naruto's tastes. Ino, at least, enjoyed the fights for their own sake instead of obsessing over winning all the time.

As if she knew what he was thinking, she murmured more quietly to him, "It's not you. I'll tell you once we sit down."

Before he could say anything in response, the jounin refereeing the matches—not the same as the one who had given the initial talk—walked into the arena. "The winner of the first match is Kazama Naruto," he confirmed, speaking loudly enough that the other genin could hear him. "The next match will be between Hyuuga Neji and Inuzuka Kiba. Please clear the floor."

Naruto slipped his kunai back into its holster and let Ino go, then took her arm when she wobbled slightly. He should have realized she would need help to get out of the arena, since he doubted she would be able to see clearly enough to walk unaided for at least another minute or so. As they headed up to join the other genin, the adrenaline rush of the fight began to wear off and he winced as he realized she had left more bruises on him than he had thought at first. He would definitely have to remember to ask Hinata for some of the ointment she kept on hand for situations like this, assuming she had even had time to make any given how busy their schedule had been recently.

"Are you two okay?" Hinata asked as he and Ino sat down next to her and the rest of their friends, though she kept her eyes trained on the figure of her cousin, who had walked out into the arena with Kiba. Naruto wasn't sure why she still cared so much about Neji, but he had long since realized that that was simply part of her nature.

"Fine, now that I can almost see right again," Ino replied, giving a sort of half-smile that fooled nobody. As if she knew that, she confessed, "Okay, maybe not. I was going to use Shintenshin to give me a way of seeing for a little bit, since my spirit body doesn't exactly have real eyes, but I just…couldn't. When I tried, I kept thinking of all the things Orochimaru showed me when I used it on him, and it…I don't know. I need to talk to my dad, I think."

Concerned, Naruto turned away from the fight in progress below—he had no doubts about who would win, in any event—to look at her. For her to say something like that, the experience must have shaken her up quite a lot; Ino was many things, but forthright about admitting weakness was not one of them. At least that explained her displeasure at the end of the fight—not because she lost, but because she had been defeated by herself and her memories rather than by her opponent.

"Was it really so bad, Ino-chan?" Hinata quietly asked her. All three of them had given up any pretense of watching the match in the arena, though the occasional glance showed Naruto that Neji was systematically taking Kiba apart—metaphorically, for the most part—as expected.

Ino gave a convulsive, full-body shudder. "He's sick," she said, unconsciously crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't even want to think about it, but I can't help it. Please, I just want to try to forget everything I saw, so can we not talk about it?"

Her voice was surprisingly calm, but Naruto could hear the underlying tension in it, fear mingling with remembered revulsion. More than anything, that convinced him that she was most definitely _not_ all right, and he cursed Orochimaru for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Sakura had nearly died, and now Ino was suffering as well. What had happened to force a handful of genin to face the infamous Snake Sannin alone, with none of the assistance they had been promised?

- - -

"Have the ANBU training standards really suffered so much since I left?" Kakashi asked the man sitting across from him. To anyone else, it would have seemed an idle, even bored question, but that was far from the truth. Based on the reports he had heard by taking shameless advantage of his past position as an ANBU squad captain, it seemed that the only reason his genin were still alive was Orochimaru's whim, and that bothered him greatly.

Even the good news that the traitor within the Leaf—or, at least, one of them—had been found out and eliminated was tainted by other concerns. With the enemy agent dead, there would be no way of learning if he had been acting alone or the true extent of the Sound plans, two things that were vitally important if they hoped to successfully counter whatever Orochimaru had in mind. That aside, he also found himself faced with a much more human concern for one of his genin; already mistrusted, he had no doubt that Sakura would be under more suspicion than ever now that she was known to have killed, even in her teammates' and friends' defense.

Kakashi was sure the Hokage knew all of this as well, but none of it showed in the older man's face as he looked up from the papers he had been examining. "Two full squads were assigned to that section of the forest," he said. "That should theoretically have been sufficient, even against my old student, but he was apparently able to separate them and destroy them in detail."

"Only two?" Kakashi asked. He had not been directly involved in that stage of the planning, but he thought he remembered significantly more resources being allocated to the forest operation, including several more ANBU teams.

The Hokage nodded, a shadow of anger passing over his face. "The on-site commander decided to assign the teams equally to all sections of the forest rather than concentrate them in the southern region. I have instructed Morino-san to determine if he is in Sound employ or merely incompetent."

_Good_, Kakashi thought. Perhaps it might have seemed a bit harsh, but all of the unit commanders involved in preparing for the possible attacks had been given the information Kakashi's team had learned from the Sound ninja who attacked them, as well as what the reconnaissance teams had discovered afterwards. They _knew_ Orochimaru had expressed special interest in at least three of the genin assigned to the southern starting location, not to mention that the Sound genin team was in that area as well. Whoever was responsible for the decision not to assign more squads to that part of the forest had been criminally stupid—or perhaps only criminal.

"And the decision made to eliminate one of my genin from the exam process?" he asked after a moment's thought. "Given the circumstances, anyone else would have received a warning at most." He thought he knew what the Hokage would say, but he wanted to confirm it for himself.

"In that particular war, I must choose which battles are worth fighting," the Hokage answered heavily, causing Kakashi to nod his agreement; that was what he had expected to hear. "According to the medic-nins who examined her, Sakura is not expected to wake for at least another day, making her elimination a certainty in any event.

"I could overturn the examiner's ruling, yes, but doing so would only add to the resentment felt towards her while making no practical difference in the outcome—and, despite what some might think, my influence only stretches so far. Better to wait and conserve my efforts for a time when they would actually matter."

Kakashi had a somewhat different opinion, mostly revolving around the concern that this created a precedent that it was acceptable for Sakura to be held to different standards than her peers, but he was also forced to admit that that precedent had been established years ago already and was perhaps impossible to change now. The Hokage was correct, too, about the ultimate irrelevance of any protest; in a normal year, she might have been permitted to continue despite the state in which she finished the second part, but the preliminary elimination round made that impossible.

In all honesty, he had a feeling Sakura herself would not mind her removal all that much. He had overheard her talking with Naruto and Hinata about the exams on several occasions, and she had been quite dismissive of her chances in the combat trials, assuming they all made it that far. No doubt she would simply accept the examiner's decision and quite happily spend somewhere else the time she would otherwise have used in preparing for the final part of the exams. By now, he had noticed, she seemed almost indifferent to the biased treatment shown to her simply because of who she was, though he felt certain that was only an act.

Whether that was true or not, though, Sakura's elimination on such a flimsy pretense would raise questions among the other genin—questions which, by law, could not be answered, and while some of them might accept that, Kakashi doubted they all would. During the joint exercises between the three rookie teams, he had noticed that several of them were almost frighteningly perceptive, and he would not be surprised if they were able to put together the pieces of the puzzle on their own.

Consideration of that would have to wait for another time, though. Right now, he was in the Hokage's office not as the leader of Team Seven but as a former ANBU captain and perhaps the Leaf's most skilled living jounin, and he had a decision to make. The abrupt removal of one of the senior ANBU commanders—for reasons he now knew and wholly approved of—left a hole in the organization's leadership, and the Hokage wanted him to fill it temporarily. At first, he had intended to refuse, but all indications were that his team had managed to survive the truly dangerous part of the exams.

"Who will train Naruto or Hinata for the third part of the exams if they make it past the elimination round?" he asked, appreciating the irony of the question. He had gone full-circle from hoping never to have to lead a genin team all the way around to actually _worrying_ about them. If he thought anyone outside of this room had any idea he felt this way, he probably would have been appalled; fortunately, he knew he could trust the Hokage to keep a secret.

The Hokage gave him a small smile around the stem of his pipe. "That has been taken care of," he said. "I assume this means you intend to accept?"

Kakashi nodded. The deliberate non-answer to his question managed to pique his curiosity, but he had known the old man long enough to realize that he would learn no more about that subject today.

"Excellent." The Hokage leaned forward across his desk and handed a thick sheaf of papers to Kakashi. "Very well, Hatake-taichou, here are the profiles of your new team members. I intend to assign you to the security detail responsible for the Kazekage, so you have some time to familiarize yourself with them before he arrives."

Kakashi stood after taking the papers from him. A glance through them revealed he would have three full squads under his command, which seemed somewhat excessive for a simple security force, especially when the Kazekage would no doubt bring bodyguards of his own. His visible eye narrowed as he considered the implications of such a show of force, one of which in particular stood out.

"You don't trust him, do you?" he asked. "You think the Sand are allied with Orochimaru, or at least you suspect it."

The Hokage's face went perfectly still. "I knew you were the right choice for this," he said a moment later. "Yes, without going into details, suffice it to say that it is a possibility. Of course, you realize you must not speak of this to anyone, including your new team. The diplomatic repercussions would be disastrous if I am wrong."

That would make things more difficult, but Kakashi could understand why the Hokage had said it. After the last major war, the Leaf had a very uneasy, very tentative truce with the Rock and Cloud, and one of the main things keeping it that way was the military alliance with the Sand. Upsetting that could have any number of unpleasant consequences, perhaps even a renewal of the war, this time with all three of the other major land-based ninja powers united against the Leaf.

"Understood," Kakashi said, then turned to leave. He had a great deal of work to do all of a sudden, it seemed.

- - -

"Thank you, Satoshi-san," Hinata said quietly, bowing to the man in front of her. "You'll come get me when my match has been announced?"

The older man, who wore a chuunin's utility vest over his medical uniform, bowed deeply in response. His pale eyes were cast downward in respect, but his voice was strong and confident—though not entirely free of doubt—as he replied, "Of course, Hinata-sama."

Hinata could tell that her kinsman was uncomfortable with the idea of allowing the heir to the family to be alone with someone so 'dangerous' as Sakura, even if the latter was soundly unconscious, and she fought the urge to snap at him. That would do no good, though; he would simply bow and mouth agreement as was expected of him, but nothing would change in his opinion of her friend. It wasn't fair, not after what Sakura had done that day, but Hinata had been taught very early in her life that fairness and reality often had little to do with each other—and never was that so apparent as in Sakura's case. That didn't mean she had to like it, though.

Not bothering to dismiss Satoshi, she turned and walked into the room where her friend lay on a narrow cot and sat down next to her. Asleep, Sakura seemed somehow younger, many of the marks etched on her face and in her bearing by years of loneliness and mistreatment smoothing out. Her hair, unbound from the braid she typically wore it in, fanned out across her pillow like a spray of cherry blossoms in spring, and Hinata laughed quietly to herself as she thought about how appropriate Sakura's name was for her.

What failed to show in her sleep, though, was the core of stubborn determination that lay beneath that quiet exterior. It didn't reveal itself often, even when she was awake, but Hinata knew it was more than a match for even Naruto's or Ino's under the right circumstances. Knowing that made it even harder to stay quiet when she heard the ugly things people would say—or leave unsaid, yet obviously implied—about her friend.

"Hello, Sakura-chan," she murmured, after what felt like a long time spent simply watching the other girl breathe. "Everyone made it here. We're all fine, even Ino, though she's still a little shaken up by what happened to her. I wish you were with us, since maybe you would have an idea why Orochimaru just let us go like that."

_Maybe you could tell me I'm wrong_, Hinata thought but could not manage to make herself say, not even to the unconscious form of one of her closest friends. She knew, somewhere in the coldly logical part of her mind that her training as a ninja and her family's heir had cultivated, exactly why the Snake Sannin had left them alive. The idea that he wanted her and Sasuke both as his followers was terrifying, all the more so because he might very well have some way of forcing them into it.

At least for the moment, though, he seemed to want them to come to him of their own free will, but she wondered what he would do when he realized she—and, she assumed, Sasuke as well—had no intention of doing so. The offer he had made was tempting in a way, but for all of his reputed intelligence, he seemed not to understand that there were some prices Hinata was unwilling to pay for the realization of her dreams. It was partially a matter of principle, but the future leader in her also recognized it for the devil's deal it undoubtedly was.

Abruptly, she shook herself. She was here for her friend right now, not for herself, even if Sakura wasn't aware of her presence at the moment. "It's too bad you're not awake. You're missing some really great matches, you know," she said, trying to summon a more light-hearted tone. "He may not be all that nice a person most of the time, but I have to admit Sasuke is an incredible fighter, especially now that he's got his sharingan."

There was no response from Sakura, as Hinata had known there would not be, but she continued anyways. "Shikamaru was happy too, since Kabuto-san forfeited right away. I think I'd have been a little disappointed, but he certainly didn't seem to mind—not that that's much of a surprise."

Giggling a little as she recalled Shikamaru's surprise that anyone could possibly be upset about being handed a victory without having to fight for it, she smiled down at Sakura. Almost without thinking, she activated her byakugan, her smile growing larger at the sight of the thin traceries of her friend's chakra coils shimmering with their own soft, cool light—dim at the moment, yet slowly growing brighter even as she watched.

The seal containing the Nine-Tails was barely visible against the backdrop of the chakra coils running through Sakura's abdomen, dark where they were light, yet the gradation was so subtle that Hinata would never have noticed it if she had not already been aware of its presence. Even more telling, at least in her opinion, was the fact that while several minor coils twined around the seal and fed into it, no chakra whatsoever flowed _out_ of it. How any Hyuuga—anyone at all, really, but especially anyone who shared her own blood gift—could look at Sakura and see her as a monster was beyond Hinata.

She opened her mouth, about to tell Sakura about the fight between Ino and Naruto, when a sudden commotion from outside drew her attention. Her byakugan were still active, and a quick look around showed a number of people, likely medic-nins, running down the hallway. Several went into the room next to Sakura's, and while she couldn't tell what they were doing, their hurried movements only fueled her growing concern. What had happened down in the arena while she sat with Sakura?

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," she called over her shoulder as she hurried to the door. "I'll come back later, but I have to go see what's happened." Thoughts of Naruto or her other friends injured severely enough to warrant such a reaction by the medic-nins filled her mind, and she desperately hoped nothing serious had happened, even while she knew it was a foolish hope.

- - -

Naruto was a trained ninja, and he had seen a number of gruesome things during the course of his training as well as in the months since he had graduated and become a genin, yet the spectacle on the arena floor still managed to sicken him. Physically, what the Sand genin had done to his opponent was nothing compared to the way he had seen Sakura kill the Sound ninja who attacked them; it was the fact that the red-haired boy seemed to have _enjoyed_ hurting Lee—one of Hinata's cousin's teammates, apparently, though Naruto didn't think they had ever met—that made Naruto feel ill. What he had done was entirely legal, but that didn't make it right.

Even now, as a team of medic-nins carried Lee away, strapped tightly to a stretcher in order to keep him from thrashing around and aggravating his injuries, the Sand boy simply shrugged off the two jounin holding him back and went up to sit next to his teammates, not even sparing a passing glance in his former opponent's direction. Apparently, he had recovered already from the momentary paralysis inflicted by Lee's attack—not that that had stopped him from crushing the other boy's arm, leg, and possibly even part of his torso with some sort of ninjutsu. Almost clinically, Naruto began to catalog the list of injuries Lee had likely received, and he wondered if the older Leaf genin would ever be able to fight again.

His thoughts were interrupted when Hinata slid into her seat next to him, hissing, "What happened? I was sitting with Sakura when everything started to go insane up there! I didn't even know there were that many medic-nins in this whole building."

"They must have been assigned here just in case something like this happened," Naruto grimly replied. "You remember that Sand genin Sakura told us about? I guess she was right about him being someone to watch out for."

Quickly, he filled Hinata in on what had happened while she was up with Sakura, and by the end of his story she looked much the same way he felt. "Poor Lee," she said sadly. "He's a little…strange, I guess, but he's really nice too. I guess his rivalry with Neji is over, at least for a while."

Before Naruto could ask her what she meant by that, she frowned and turned away from the arena to look at him. "What about the other matches I missed?" she asked.

"Nothing all that exciting," Naruto replied, only too happy to change the subject. "Shino beat Chouji by draining him after he used that special Akimichi clan enlargement technique, so that's why Ino and Shikamaru aren't here. They took him into the room we were waiting in earlier, but Shino said he'll be fine after he wakes up.

"Oh, but that Sand kunoichi was really good! I wonder if she might want to trade techniques with me," he added. Then his face fell as he remembered what Sakura had said about how all three of the Sand genin were siblings; he wasn't sure he wanted to try talking with her if the redheaded boy was her brother. While she hadn't seemed to act deliberately cruel in her fight with Neji's other teammate—beyond knocking her unconscious when she was already subdued, at least—he now found himself wondering if that was because she hadn't wanted to, or if she simply hadn't had the opportunity.

"Anyways," he said, shaking off that concern for the moment, "yours is the only fight left. Well, assuming they're still going to have it after what just happened."

Hinata looked like she still wanted to ask him several—or perhaps several hundred—questions, but before she could do more than open her mouth, the jounin refereeing the matches stepped into the arena. "The winner of the match is Sabaku no Gaara," he announced. "The final match of the preliminary round will be between Hyuuga Hinata and Sabaku no Kankuro."

"Well, I guess that answers that question," Hinata muttered as she stood up. Naruto was surprised at how calm the jounin had sounded, as though he had not just had to physically restrain the winner of the match from killing the loser, and he hoped Hinata's opponent would not be as bloodthirsty as his teammate.

"Good luck, Hinata-chan," he said, grinning at her. "After all of the training we've been doing, there's no way you're going to lose."

For a moment, Hinata's face froze into the arrogant, coldly superior expression Naruto had seen on her father so many times, and she loftily replied, "A Hyuuga doesn't need to rely on such things as _luck._"

Then, just when Naruto was beginning to wonder if she might actually be serious, she spoiled the image by giggling helplessly and poking his shoulder. "Or, at least, that's what Father would say," she added. "I'd better get down there now, though, but thanks."

With a backwards wave, she headed down to the arena floor, leaving Naruto to wonder what had come over her. Usually, she wasn't so playful about the way she was expected to behave as the heir of her family, and as much as he enjoyed seeing her like this, he had a feeling it was mostly a nervous reaction to the fact that she would have to fight the brother of the boy who had perhaps permanently crippled his opponent.

_You can do it, Hinata-chan_, he thought, offering her a reassuring smile as she entered the arena, even though she couldn't see it. He might tease her about it, but there were a number of very good reasons for the arrogance many Hyuuga exhibited.

- - -

Hinata took a deep breath as she faced her opponent. The odd paint on his face somewhat resembled that worn by the actors from the traditional plays her father sometimes insisted she attend with him, yet on him it only made him look sinister. He had removed the bundle from his back, holding it next to him with one hand, and she wondered what he intended to do with it. Part of her was nervous, but the greater part was too upset about what she had heard from Naruto to dwell on that nervousness.

While it was true that contestants did become injured during the combat trials, sometimes seriously, it sounded like the other Sand genin had hurt Lee simply because he could, not because he had to in order to win. Hinata could have understood the latter—she was hardly naïve enough to think that all of the fights would end as cleanly as the one between Naruto and Ino—but she could not bring herself to forgive the former. Perhaps that was simply how the Sand trained their ninja, but if so, she would be only too happy to demonstrate the superiority of her own style. The jyuuken might not be as 'gentle' as its name implied, but she could and would defeat her opponent without inflicting unnecessary harm upon him.

"Ready? Begin!" the presiding jounin called out, stepping back and out of the arena. Immediately, Hinata began to form hand seals, smiling to herself as she wondered how her cousin would react to her opening move. While he was a great believer in the ideal of a Hyuuga needing nothing but the jyuuken in order to triumph, she had a feeling even he would appreciate the advantages this technique offered.

"Kirigakure no Jutsu," she murmured, focusing her chakra outwards as a dense fog began to enshroud the arena floor. She might not want to physically harm her opponent more than she had to, but by the end of the match, she was determined that he would know he was completely at her mercy, and this was a perfect first step in that process. One unfortunate side effect, of course, was that the other genin watching would not have a very good view of the fight, but that couldn't be helped.

As she had predicted, she saw the Sand genin freeze in place for a moment, then quickly run to the side—a good tactic if she had simply been using the fog as a momentary cover for a direct attack, but nothing could be further from the truth. Swiftly, using the peculiar noiseless, shuffling gait she had spent long hours perfecting, she began to move towards him, tracking him by the glow of his chakra through the opaque mists. He was close enough to the center of the arena that she would be able to circle around and come up behind him, at which point the fight would be over.

To her surprise, though, Hinata saw his silhouette double, one copy moving away while the second remained in place—but the truly interesting thing was that while both forms appeared solid, only one was generating chakra. Normal bunshin showed up as nothing but hazy outlines when viewed with the byakugan, while the kage bunshin Kakashi had demonstrated for her once had been impossible to tell apart from real humans; this lay somewhere in between the two. She paused her approach for a moment and looked more closely, trying to determine if her opponent had somehow trapped her in a genjutsu or if what she was seeing was real.

_Ah…I see it_, she thought, nodding slightly. Faintly glowing lines of chakra connected the two figures, and as she watched, she saw the chakra-dark one move in time with the twitching of the 'strings.' Somehow, the Sand genin was controlling a double of himself—probably physical, though she supposed it could be a bunshin of some sort—like a marionette, and if she had not been able to see the difference between their chakra levels, she had to admit she probably would have been fooled. As it was, though, this just offered her another opportunity to disable him. Disrupting chakra flows was what the jyuuken did best, after all.

Hinata's first strike cut through half of the glowing strings, causing the entire left side of the puppet to go limp. She heard her opponent's short exclamation of surprise, oddly distorted due to some property of the mists enveloping them, and cursed to herself when the strings reappeared a moment later. Ducking a clumsy, unaimed strike that nevertheless came annoyingly close to hitting her, she then frowned as she retreated slightly. Perhaps this would not be as simple as she had thought; a more pressing concern, though, was the continuous chakra drain caused by her Mist Concealment technique. The air in the arena must have been fairly dry, as maintaining it at this level was exhausting her reserves faster than she had expected.

With a wide, arcing swipe, she severed all of the chakra strings linking the Sand genin to his puppet, then turned and ran towards him as quickly as she could. As she had hoped, the sound of the puppet clattering to the ground must have covered up the noise she was making, because he was completely unprepared for her attack. Guessing that he needed to use his hands to create the chakra strings that would let him control his puppet, she brushed her fingers along the tenketsu in his arms, then struck several nerve clusters in his shoulders. The combined effects of the damage to both his chakra coils and nervous system were enough to completely paralyze his arms.

To his credit, the Sand genin did not simply stand in place and let Hinata disable him, even after the shock of having his arms rendered limp and useless. She hopped over a quick leg sweep, then slid around what she assumed was an attempt to head-butt her, but the fight was all but over. With his arms disabled for the moment, he could neither control his puppet nor use any ninjutsu or genjutsu, and he had to have known it. To drive her point home, though, she retreated back into the concealing fog, then came up from behind him while he was still trying to track her.

One soft, exquisitely precise blow to the base of his spine was enough to interrupt the chakra flowing to his legs—only for an instant, but an instant was all she needed, as he pitched forward onto the ground and, without the support and balance provided by his arms, was unable to rise again. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, she released the mist-generating technique she had been maintaining throughout the fight, then staggered as a rush of lightheadedness hit her. She had almost cut things too close, and she was very thankful she would have a chance to rest after this.

As the fog dissipated, she saw the Sand genin had managed to struggle to his knees, and she frowned. Despite her anger at what his teammate had done, she really didn't want to hurt him, or even fully disable him, but it looked like she would have to. To her surprise, though, he shook his head at her and called out his forfeit of the match to the overseeing jounin.

"I know when I'm beaten," he said, though the nasty smirk he gave her seemed at odds with his words. Somehow, despite his apparently willing surrender, she had a feeling she had made an enemy that day.

- - -

Author's Notes: Well, I've been trying to get this up since last Wednesday, but the site wouldn't let me upload anything at all--not even a completely blank plain-text document--and the support website I was directed to apparently doesn't exist. Regardless, things seem to be working again now, so that's good. In any event, thank you all for your reviews of the previous chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this one as well.

If anyone is curious, here is a complete list of the preliminary matches and their winners, though I believe all are at least mentioned in passing: Naruto(W)/Ino, Neji(W)/Kiba, Sasuke(W)/Yoroi, Shikamaru(W)/Kabuto, Shino(W)/Chouji, Temari(W)/Tenten, Gaara(W)/Lee, Hinata(W)/Kankuro.


	19. Eighteen: A Time to Rest

The instant Sakura woke up, she could tell she was not in her own apartment. Her bed, which had once seemed huge to an undernourished six-year-old, had over time become more and more cramped as she grew, to the point where she now slept curled up so her feet wouldn't hang off the bottom. The bed she was lying in at the moment, though, was not just softer and more comfortable than her own, but also large enough that she had unconsciously sprawled out in her sleep until she now occupied nearly the entire thing. It was a luxurious feeling, and she took a moment to bask in the warmth of the covers cocooned around her before reluctantly blinking her eyes open and sitting up.

_Oh, Ino-chan's room_, she thought, immediately recognizing the rather eclectic assortment of objects cluttering nearly every available surface. Technique scrolls shared space on the shelves with books on gardening and flower arrangement, and the vanity table held both cosmetics and a wide variety of ninja tools. There were fewer clothes piled on the floor than the last time Sakura had come over, so she supposed Ino—or, more likely, Ino's mother—must have just done the laundry, but the flowers by the small window appeared to have been neglected for several days.

None of that, though, answered the question of why she had woken up in her friend's bed rather than her own. Frowning slightly as she tried to remember what had happened prior to her awakening, Sakura shook her head in disgust as the memories refused to come to her. She clearly recalled the start of the second part of the exams, and a glance down at the bandage on her thigh reassured her that she wasn't imagining those events, but everything after her team met up with Team Eight was a blur in her mind.

_Did I hit my head or something?_ she wondered. A cautious examination revealed no sore spots, though, so that seemed unlikely. Whatever had happened couldn't have been too bad, or she would have woken up in the hospital—at least, she thought she would have. Surely the medic-nins and doctors wouldn't have refused to take care of her...would they? She felt fine, though, so she stubbornly pushed the nagging doubt out of her mind; there was no point in dwelling on things that didn't, and might not ever, matter.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the bedroom door opened and Ino walked in, her normally cheerful expression downcast. That changed the instant she looked over towards her bed, though, and she almost literally flew across the room and tackled Sakura to the mattress, grabbing her in a crushing hug.

"You're awake!" Ino cried out. "I…they said only a day or two, but…oh, never mind, it doesn't matter. It's about time you woke up, Sakura-chan!"

"Can't breathe, Ino-chan!" Sakura gasped, struggling slightly against her friend's grip, "You're squishing me." She had never seen Ino this excited before—or worried; she could detect that, too, in her friend's voice—and it made her wonder even more what had happened that she couldn't remember. Ino made no move to pull away, though, and when Sakura felt a slight dampness begin to soak through the fabric of the thin nightshirt she was wearing, she knew that whatever had happened, it must have been something bad. She could count on one hand the number of times she had ever seen Ino cry, with fingers to spare.

"Ino-chan, what happened?" she asked, a hint of desperation entering her voice. This accomplished what her previous words had not, and Ino pulled back a bit to look up at her.

Traces of tears glimmered in Ino's eyes, which she wiped away with an impatient swipe of her hand, and her mouth dipped into a frown. "You don't remember?" she asked. "Orochimaru attacking, and then that…and you almost _died_, but you don't remember any of it at all?"

Sakura was sure she must look like someone had hit her on the back of the head at that moment, as her eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped open. "I…no, I don't remember that at all," she murmured, beginning to understand Ino's behavior. Trying to lighten the mood, she added, "I feel awfully good for someone who almost died, though."

"_Not_ funny," Ino said flatly, glaring at her. "You drained so much of your chakra that Naruto said your heart stopped, and you've been unconscious for twice as long as the medics thought you would be. Sakura-chan, you can't _do_ things like that."

She added something else, almost too quietly for Sakura to hear, but it sounded like, "Not for me."

Before Sakura could ask her about it, though, Ino stood up and, smiling brightly, turned and walked over to the door. "You must be really hungry," she said. "Lucky for you, Mom's home, so I'll go tell her you're awake and get some food for you."

"But, Ino-chan, I feel fine," Sakura protested, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "I can come down and get something to eat myself." When she tried to stand up, though, she felt her head spin and her legs wobble beneath her, and she was forced to sit back down on the bed as Ino smirked triumphantly at her.

"Fine, huh?" the blonde girl asked, sticking her tongue out at Sakura. "You haven't had anything to eat or drink except juice and vitamin pills in four days, so just sit there and let me do this."

Again, she said something under her breath, but this time she was far enough away that her words were completely inaudible. She disappeared through the door after giving Sakura another smile and a promise to return quickly with something to eat, leaving her more confused than she had been when she first woke up. Her first guess had been incorrect—whatever she couldn't remember had obviously been very bad—but she still had no real idea what that had been. One thing was clear, though; Ino obviously felt guilty about whatever had happened to her, and Sakura wanted to know why.

"I just wish I could remember," she sighed aloud, falling back on the bed and staring up at the ceiling. Losing part of her memory frightened her, if she were to be honest with herself, and she hoped it would come back given time. Presumably, her partial amnesia was an aftereffect of the chakra drain she had inflicted on herself, but that didn't make it any easier for her to accept when she didn't even know why she had done so in the first place. Based on what she had noticed so far, though, she was almost certain it—whatever it was—was not something she should regret having done.

A quiet knock on the partially-closed door intruded into her thoughts, and she sat up again just in time to see Ino's mother walk into the room carrying a tray of food. "Ino can be a bit over-enthusiastic sometimes," she said, setting the tray on the table next to the bed and sitting down. "I thought you might appreciate some quieter company while you eat."

Sakura's stomach growled as she smelled the food, and she blushed as she reached out for the utensils. The meal was nothing fancy—rice, a small bowl of miso soup, and some steamed vegetables—but it looked good, and at the moment she was hungry enough to have eaten just about anything. Much to her pleasure, it tasted just as good as it looked, though she was still hungry by the time she finished it all.

"I'll bring you some more later," Ino's mother said, as if anticipating her question. "You don't want to eat too much all at once and get sick." Her pleasant expression faltered after a moment, though, and she shook her head. When she looked back at Sakura, she nodded once, firmly, as though she had made up her mind about something.

"Ino told me you don't remember anything of what happened to all of you in the forest," she said. "Is that really true?"

Sakura nodded, then paused and shook her head. "I remember fighting a team of Rain genin," she said, "and then meeting up with Team Eight. Everything after that, though…" She trailed off, unable to keep herself from frowning. "I don't even remember seeing Ino there, but I guess I must have. And she said something about Orochimaru attacking, too."

The older woman shuddered slightly. "Yes, and I won't presume to ask why genin were even put in a situation where they might meet _him_," she said, sounding decidedly unhappy. "I don't know exactly what happened then—I've long since accepted that there will be some parts of my husband's and daughter's lives that I'll never fully understand—but I do know that it's because of you that I even still have a daughter. I don't think there are any words to express what that means to me."

_I…saved Ino-chan?_ Sakura thought, not entirely sure she had heard correctly. It felt right, though, as though her buried memories agreed, and for the barest fraction of a moment she thought she might be on the verge of remembering.

_Ino, lying on the ground, curled up in obvious pain. An older boy, leaning over her. Concern, shifting rapidly to panic as—_

Sakura growled in frustration and pounded one fist half-heartedly on the mattress as the memory slipped away from her again. Still, at least now she had some reassurance that she might eventually remember everything that had happened, and she drew some small comfort from that. If she really had done something to protect Ino, though, then it didn't matter if she never regained those memories. Not having them bothered her, admittedly, but it seemed like a small price to pay for keeping her friend safe.

As if she could read the thoughts running through Sakura's mind, Ino's mother smiled sadly at her. "How could we all have been so wrong about you then?" she murmured to herself, her eyes taking on a faraway look. "I wish…

"Well, that's not important now," she said a moment later, forcing a cheerful note into her voice as she stood and picked up the now-empty tray. "Ino should be just about done preparing the bath, so I'll send her up to get you. I'm sure you must be desperate to clean yourself up."

A long, hot bath sounded like the most wonderful thing in the whole world to Sakura at that moment, with the possible exception of more food, and she nodded. "Thank you," she said quietly. "For the food, and for taking care of me, and…"

She trailed off, not sure how to continue, but Ino's mother seemed to understand anyways—and perhaps, after all, some things were better left unsaid. Giving Sakura another smile, this one not quite as sad as the previous one, she turned and left the room.

- - -

"He's so late!" Naruto exclaimed, kicking a rock into the river. "Just when I thought he might actually be a good teacher, he starts this stuff again! And it's Sakura-chan's first day back with us, too."

Beside him, Hinata leaned on the bridge's railing, happy just to have her other teammate back again. Sakura was still slightly pale, but aside from that, she looked as though nothing had ever happened to her at all—as though she hadn't spent four days unconscious and another one recovering. She had told them that she couldn't remember exactly what had happened when Orochimaru attacked, though she also said that she was starting to recall bits and pieces of the fight. Personally, Hinata was unsure she would want to remember, if she were in Sakura's position, but she knew how much her friend valued her mind.

"So, what do you think it'll be this time?" Naruto asked, jolting Hinata out of her musings. Sakura was leaning on the other railing across from them, laughing at whatever Naruto had just said.

"What what will be?" Hinata asked, though she had a good idea what he meant. He and Sakura seemed to delight in trying to guess what imaginative excuse Kakashi would give for his lateness, and she had a suspicion Kakashi in turn enjoyed coming up with even wilder and more improbable excuses to give them.

Naruto grinned. "Well, Sakura-chan is betting on rabid, amphibious piranhas chasing him up a tree," he said, "but he'd never admit something like that, so I say it's because he fell asleep after waiting in line at the bookstore all night to get the first copy of the new _Icha-Icha_ story."

Before Hinata could cast her vote in with Naruto's idea—really, Sakura might be brilliant, but she had the most bizarre imagination at times—a puff of smoke appeared between them on the bridge. As expected, Kakashi appeared out of the smoke a moment later, but quite unexpectedly, he was not alone. A second man, this one somewhat older, with long, white hair, stepped up next to him. It was obvious, even without using her byakugan to examine his chakra system, that he was an exceptionally well-trained ninja; his every movement was smooth and precise, with no wasted energy, and his hands were callused from decades of taijutsu training.

Then, to Hinata's astonishment, the mysterious man's frighteningly competent demeanor seemed to vanish, disappearing behind a façade of normality with such swiftness that it left her wondering if she had even seen anything in the first place. He now resembled nothing so much as one of the traveling hermit-priests who occasionally passed through the village, and though there was a lecherous gleam in his eyes that somewhat unnerved her, he appeared utterly harmless. It took all of her self-control to keep from activating her byakugan to take a closer look at him, but she knew some people found that impolite, and she had no desire to do anything that might annoy him.

Off to Hinata's side, she heard Naruto give a startled gasp, and she glanced over at him to see his mouth hanging open. "You—you're Father's sensei!" he exclaimed, pointing at the white-haired man. "Mother's told me stories about you."

The man seemed to preen for a moment, and he stuck his chest out proudly. "Well, it looks like I won't have to introduce myself after all," he said. "I should have known your mother would be so in awe of my legendary skills that she would make sure to tell you all about me."

"Yeah! She told me about all the times when you used to peep on her in the bath, and then about how she would use you as a training target when she caught you!" Naruto said excitedly. "Wow, I can't wait to let her know you're here. I'm sure she doesn't _really_ want to strip you naked and hang you from the Hokage's tower."

Hinata did a double-take as she processed his words, then looked over at Sakura, who was studying the newcomer with a look on her face halfway between awe, terror, and wariness. The former and latter were easy enough to understand, assuming Naruto was telling the truth—based on what he had said, the white-haired man must be the sannin Jiraiya, equally famed for his ninja skills and his perverted tendencies—but she couldn't understand why her teammate would be so frightened of him.

If anything, Hinata thought as she watched Jiraiya begin to explain to Naruto how spying on women at hot springs was a valuable training method—something about which her blond friend appeared highly dubious, she was pleased to note—the sannin resembled a less restrained Kakashi. For a moment, she wondered if Naruto's father had been just as perverted as his teacher and student seemed to be, shuddering as she considered the possibility that it was something that could be taught. She had a momentary vision of herself using the byakugan to peer through the walls of bath houses, then grimaced as she wiped the thought from her mind.

"Um…excuse me, Jiraiya-sama?"

Sakura's hesitant question cut through a momentary silence in the spirited 'discussion' between Naruto and Jiraiya, causing the white-haired man to turn towards her. He frowned in thought for a moment, then nodded as if one of his suspicions had just been confirmed.

"You must be the fox-girl," he said, giving her a quick wink. "And in a few more years, that'll be true in more than one way, unless I miss my guess."

Hinata found herself struck speechless by the casual way Jiraiya referred to Sakura's seal, instantly deciding that no matter how perverted he might be, he couldn't possibly be all that bad. Even aside from his near-legendary abilities, anyone who could put Sakura at ease by using the very thing that caused everyone to hate and fear her was someone Hinata could respect. Granted, Sakura didn't appear all that much at ease at the moment, but that seemed due less to her previous fear and more to the fact that she was currently doing her level best to impersonate a tomato.

_Instant blush, just add teasing_, Hinata thought, grinning at Naruto, who seemed just as amused by the whole thing as she was. Perhaps it was a bit unkind to find such humor in how easily their friend became embarrassed, but it really was too entertaining to pass up. The next few words out of Sakura's mouth, though, abruptly sucked all of the lightheartedness out of the situation.

"You don't hate me for what happened to the Fourth?" she asked in a tiny voice, staring down at her shoes as the redness faded from her cheeks. "I know he was your student, and he's dead because of that seal."

"What happened to my former student," Jiraiya replied, emphasizing his words in such a way that Sakura looked up at him, startled, "was his own choice. What happened to you was _not_ your choice. It may have been necessary, but you're far more a victim than he was. As some people should have remembered," he added, throwing a sharp glare at Kakashi, who had remained silent since they arrived.

Sakura nodded, though she still seemed somewhat dubious. "I…thank you, Jiraiya-sama," she said. "Then…can I ask you some questions, after our practice is over? I've been studying fuuinjutsu for a while now, but there's so much I still don't understand, and I was hoping you might be able to help me."

Kakashi chose that moment to speak up. "Aren't you wondering why I was late?" he asked, and Hinata was sure he was smirking at them beneath his mask.

"Rabid piranhas?" Naruto answered, though it was obviously a rhetorical question. "New _Icha-Icha_? Um…help me out, Hinata-chan; you never said what your guess was."

Before Hinata could do more than roll her eyes, Jiraiya all but pounced on Naruto. "You like the _Icha-Icha_ series?" he asked, raising one fist towards the sky in triumph. "Ha! I knew Yukie-chan wouldn't be able to keep you from learning to appreciate such marvelous works of literature!

"Let me guess, your favorite must be _Icha-Icha Paradise 12_, where Asano-kun learns that he's been assigned to an ANBU team along with the two most beautiful kunoichi in the village. Though…you seem to have started a bit earlier than Asano," he said, frowning at Naruto. "It's better if you wait for them to grow up a bit."

Hinata wasn't sure whether to be—very reluctantly—amused at her friend's predicament, or highly annoyed at the sannin's insinuation, though she was rapidly deciding in favor of the latter. A glance over at Naruto showed him looking desperately at her and mouthing, "Help me!" and she couldn't help but giggle at the look on his face.

"Um…maybe we should find out what Kakashi-sensei wants to tell us?" Sakura offered, before Hinata could say anything. Naruto nodded frantically in agreement as he scrambled away from Jiraiya.

"As I told Naruto and Hinata several days ago," Kakashi said, giving Sakura what Hinata would have called a pathetically grateful look, were it to come from anyone else, "I've been temporarily reassigned to head the ANBU detail responsible for the Kazekage's security. That means I won't have time to oversee your training for the next few weeks, so the Hokage has generously assigned another ninja to teach you while I'm busy."

Hinata had a growing suspicion where this was going, and she wasn't sure she liked it. While the chance to learn from one of the legendary sannin was hardly one that came along every day, and Jiraiya had impressed her with his kind words for Sakura, she wasn't sure she would be able to handle nearly a full month of his perverted tendencies. Then again, there was always the possibility that he would settle down somewhat once he actually started teaching them.

"Team Seven, meet your new teacher—the Toad Sannin, Jiraiya. Have fun!"

With that, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind three highly confused genin, along with one sannin who now had a decidedly evil grin on his face.

- - -

Sakura doubted she had ever worked so hard in her life, even when preparing for the second part of the chuunin exams. Jiraiya might seem to be nothing but a harmless—albeit lecherous—wandering priest on the surface, but as she and her teammates had discovered that afternoon, he could be a brutally demanding taskmaster. He was also, she had noticed, quite intelligent and perceptive despite the 'dirty old man' façade he adopted much of the time, and she looked forward to talking with him about fuuinjutsu.

Even more than that, he was one of the very few adults who didn't appear to care in the slightest about the demon sealed inside her, and that by itself would have won him her undying gratitude. For that, she thought, she could forgive him a great number of his more egregious offenses—most of which seemed to center around trying to convince Naruto that being the sole male ninja on a team of kunoichi was every man's dream come true.

Sakura shook her head and sighed, deciding that the less she thought about that, the better off she would be. Of more immediate relevance, Jiraiya had kept them practicing until well after dinner time, and she was eager to get back to her apartment so she could eat. While her own lesson had not been as physically tiring as what she had seen of Naruto's or Hinata's, she had used up a great deal of chakra; presumably, that had been the point of the exercise, as the sannin had said he would be tailoring their training to what Kakashi had told him each of their weak points were.

_And in my case, that would definitely be my stamina_, she thought ruefully. Far from the scholastic discussion she had been hoping to have with him, Jiraiya had instead set her to forming ever more intricate patterns using the Wind Engraving technique—while using chakra to hang upside down from a tree branch by the soles of her feet. Though it was undeniably good training in both stamina and control, she couldn't help but wish he had told her to do something more immediately useful, or at least more enjoyable.

Just as Sakura reached the street her apartment building was located on, she realized someone was following not far behind her. Whoever it was didn't seem to intend any harm, or she would have noticed his or her presence earlier, but she couldn't help but feel worried. She could think of very few people who might have good intentions for following her, and while her chakra senses weren't as well-developed as Naruto's, she was sure she would recognize any of them.

"You might as well come out! I know you're there," she called to the unknown person, hoping her voice conveyed more confidence than she felt at the moment. The street was deserted, most people already home for the evening, though the shadows from the setting sun left a number of patches of near-darkness where someone might be hiding. Even if there had been anyone else around, though, she doubted it would have mattered; none of her neighbors would exactly be eager to help her out in case of trouble.

To Sakura's surprise, though, the person who stepped out of one of the concealing shadows was someone she never would have expected to see in this part of the village—or any other part, really. The blonde Sand kunoichi, dressed nearly identically to the first time they had met, had an unhappy frown on her face, though it didn't seem to be directed at Sakura. As she walked closer, she rhythmically tapped the handle of the small folding fan she was carrying, her eyes darting around in alert surveillance.

"Sorry," she said, once she reached where Sakura was standing. "I didn't mean to startle you. I was walking around and got lost, and then I recognized you, so I thought you might be able to tell me how to get back to the inn district."

It was a perfectly reasonable excuse, but Sakura found herself wondering how much of it was the truth. She didn't doubt that the other girl was lost—she was practically overflowing with annoyance, for one thing—but that didn't answer the question of how she got lost in the first place. The Sand and the Leaf might be allied, but even allies would be hard-pressed to pass up the chance for a bit of casual spying. If that was her purpose, though, she had definitely come to the wrong place, Sakura thought. There was nothing in this part of the village except cheap apartments.

"Sure, um…Temari-san, wasn't it?" Sakura said as ingenuously as she could manage. "It's almost on the other side of the village, though. You must have gotten really lost."

To Sakura's surprise, Temari's reaction was nothing like the defensive one she had halfway expected to see. "I know," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "I was looking for the main market district, but I think I took a wrong turn somewhere. For some reason, they didn't seem to want to give us very detailed maps."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at the sarcasm evident in the other girl's voice, and she found herself relaxing slightly. "I can show you, if you want," she said. "It's pretty easy to get lost, especially in this part of town."

"I was going to ask if it was too late to take you up on your offer of a tour from the first time we…ran into each other," Temari said, giving her a small smile. For a moment, Sakura thought she saw a look of satisfaction cross her face, but then dismissed it as a trick of the twilight. If the Sand kunoichi was hoping to see some of the more secure areas of the village, a guided tour would be the last thing she would want.

Blushing slightly as she remembered how they had quite _literally_ run into each other, Sakura nodded. "I'd be happy to," she said. "Oh! I don't think I ever introduced myself. My name is Haruno Sakura."

"I know," Temari replied as they started walking, gesturing for her to lead the way. "Your friends were worried about you after the second task. Nobody ever told us exactly what happened to all of you out in the forest, but they did say you were forced to kill someone."

Sakura winced; that, at least, she was perfectly happy not to remember. She still woke from the occasional nightmares of what had happened with the Sound ninja, and she had no desire to add anything more to them. At the same time, she couldn't bring herself actually to regret either of the deaths she had caused, not when she had been protecting her friends by doing so. Just because she didn't regret them, though, didn't mean she wanted to think about them.

"It must have been difficult to realize you had been disqualified from the exams for such a petty reason," Temari continued, seemingly unaware of the reaction her words had caused. "Killing indiscriminately is one thing, but I would have thought the officials would have been glad you saved the life of another one of your genin."

"I wouldn't have been able to compete anyways," Sakura murmured, beginning to feel uncomfortable. In an attempt to change the subject, she pointed towards a nearby street vendor's stall she knew extremely well, thanks to Naruto, and asked, "Um…are you hungry, maybe? We could go eat at Ichiraku's, if you want. He makes really good ramen, and—"

Abruptly, she pressed her lips together. _And he'll actually serve me_, she had been about to say, but her companion wasn't from the Leaf and wouldn't know about that. Sakura hoped she would never find out, either.

Much to her relief, Temari simply nodded. "I'm sure my brothers have already eaten without me," she said. "I doubt they left me anything, either, and I'd rather not starve tonight."

Sakura giggled at the annoyed look on the blonde girl's face, her earlier uneasiness fading as they ducked into the stall. Based on what Naruto and Hinata had said, it sounded like the Sand were far more accustomed to casual violence than the Leaf were, and perhaps Temari had simply been trying to make conversation. Part of the problem, Sakura had to admit, was that she was sure the examiners had been only too happy to seize upon the slightest technicality in order to eliminate her. Despite how she tried to convince herself otherwise, that did bother her, even though it was an attitude she should have grown used to by now—not to mention that she knew she would have had to drop out anyways.

"Haruno-san? Did you want to order?" Temari asked, shaking Sakura out of her momentary melancholy. She realized old man Ichiraku was waiting for her as well, and she flushed under his regard.

"I'll have a medium tempura shrimp, please," she said, causing him to shake his head and smile.

"I should have known," he commented as he turned to start two batches of noodles simmering in the broth. "You're just as predictable as that teammate of yours, even if you only order a quarter as much as he does."

Sakura nodded, unable to disagree with him. If not for Hinata's insistence that they eat something other than ramen sometimes, she had no doubt that Naruto would be perfectly happy to single-handedly fund Ichiraku's operation. Temari, on the other hand, appeared somewhat disbelieving that anyone—let alone a young genin—could possibly eat that much.

"You sound like you're close to your teammates," the older girl said as they sat down and waited for their orders to be ready. There was a strange note in her voice, almost one of wistfulness, Sakura thought, though that seemed strange when her own brothers were her teammates. Surely they must be close to each other.

"Naruto and Hinata are two of my best friends," she replied, unable to keep a smile off of her face as she thought about them. "I've known them since I started at the ninja academy."

Anything Temari might have said in reply was lost as Ichiraku set their orders in front of them. "Have a good dinner," he said pleasantly. "And Sakura-chan, tell Naruto he needs to stop by again soon. I have a house payment coming up, after all."

Smiling at her, he moved away to greet another customer, leaving the two girls to their food. Thankfully, Sakura thought, the other customer was a regular as well, and thus wasn't likely to stare disapprovingly at her, frown in her direction, or do any of the other things most people tended to do when they noticed her. Giving herself a quick mental shake, she turned her attention to her dinner.

"So, Haruno-san," Temari said in between mouthfuls of ramen, "what kinds of things are there to do for fun in this village? Training is great, but when you've got brothers like mine, you'd go crazy if that's all you did."

Sakura blinked, pausing with her spoon halfway to her mouth. Most of her time was spent either training, studying with the Hokage or at the library, or with her friends, and she found herself at a loss for how to answer Temari's question. She knew there were various 'fun' places to go—the movie theater, a number of parks and gardens, the shopping district, and probably several other things to do which she was unaware of—but she also knew that she would not have a very enjoyable experience if she tried to take advantage of them.

"I…um, well…" she began, then trailed off, feeling horribly embarrassed. She had offered to give the Sand girl a tour of the village, and now she found herself unable to answer even the simplest question.

Temari laughed and waved her free hand dismissively, though the look on her face was faintly pitying—and, Sakura thought, understanding as well. She somehow doubted that, though; she barely knew the blonde girl, but she could already tell she was not the sort of person who would understand what it was like to have everyone hate her. On the other hand, at least she didn't seem too disappointed or annoyed by Sakura's pathetic lack of knowledge.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "Trust me, there's not much to do back home, either, unless you like watching sandstorms. Just show me where the shops are, and I'll be fine."

"Okay," Sakura replied, giving her a hesitant smile, which the other girl returned. "And…you can call me Sakura, if you want. I don't mind." Truthfully, she was far more comfortable with that than with the detached formality of her family name. The latter brought up far too many unpleasant memories of people sneeringly dismissing her with a curt, "You're not welcome here, Haruno," or simply, "Haruno, go away."

"Ready to go, then, Sakura-san?" Temari asked, finishing her last few mouthfuls of noodles and standing up. She set several coins on the table, enough to pay for both bowls of ramen. At Sakura's inquisitive look, she shrugged, saying, "If you're going to show me around, I might as well pay for your dinner. It seems a fair price for not getting lost the next time I go out."

Sakura drained the last of the broth from her bowl and stood as well. "Thank you, Temari-san," she said, bowing slightly to her. "It's getting late, so most of the stores will probably be closed already, but I can at least show you where they are."

She still wasn't quite sure what to make of Temari, who gave a cheerful wave to Ichiraku as she exited the stall, but almost against her better judgement, she was beginning to like the older girl. True, her questions had made Sakura a bit uncomfortable at first, but she seemed nice, and best of all, she neither knew about the Nine-Tails nor had grown up being taught by those who knew.

_Maybe she'll want to be my friend_, Sakura thought as the two of them began to walk towards the market district. _I think I'd like that, even if I won't get to see her very often after the chuunin exams are over._

- - -

Author's Notes: Well, it's been a while since I've updated; hopefully, this chapter was worth the wait. Those of you who were hoping for Jiraiya's introduction...well, you got your wish. Updates will probably be coming somewhat slower from now on, as I've been extremely busy recently and will likely continue to be for the foreseeable future. As always, thank you all for reading, and I hope you're enjoying the story!


	20. Nineteen: Approaching a Cusp

Sasuke resisted the urge to sigh as he glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall of the empty classroom. Night had fallen several hours ago, and he was getting bored and hungry, but Kurenai had asked—in that tone she used which indicated her 'request' was nothing of the sort—him to meet with someone here to discuss the offer Orochimaru had made to him during the second trial of the exams. He still wasn't entirely sure why he had even mentioned it to her; she might be his jounin-sensei, but this was a private matter, he thought.

Perhaps it was the fact that, unlike the vast majority of the other teachers, tutors, and guardians he had had since _that_ day, she didn't pity him. He didn't want anyone's pity, and Kurenai seemed to understand that. Perhaps the reason was simply that he had actually started to believe her when she said that as a jounin and the team leader, Sasuke and his teammates were her absolute top priority. He doubted he would ever fully trust her, or anyone else, but for the moment he had no reason to think she might not mean what she said.

On the contrary, ever since the second trial, she had been working with him to explore the possibilities of using his sharingan in conjunction with genjutsu, sometimes to startlingly impressive effect. Sasuke had had no idea genjutsu could be so powerful—even lethal, if used properly—and while he doubted he would ever reach Kurenai's level of mastery, he could easily see the advantages of learning from her. The Uchiha had traditionally focused on ninjutsu and taijutsu, and if she could help him discover how to apply the sharingan's strengths to the relatively unexplored area of genjutsu, that might be exactly the advantage he would need in order to kill his brother.

He had to admit, though, that Orochimaru's offer intrigued him in a way. The Snake Sannin, like his former teammates, was legendary in his skills and accomplishments, and Sasuke had no doubt that the missing-nin could make good on his offer of training. Unlike the other two sannin, however, Orochimaru's darker side was of equally legendary scope; Tsunade's gambling habits and Jiraiya's perversion might be infamous, but they were nothing compared to the cruel experiments the Snake Sannin had performed on enemy captives and Leaf citizens alike. Yes, Orochimaru could make him powerful, but he wondered about the price he would have to pay for that power, in the end.

_If it lets me kill _him_, though, it might be worth it_, Sasuke thought, before being interrupted by the sound of the door opening. He vaguely recognized the chakra signature of whoever had entered, but when he turned around, he found himself taken aback.

"What are you doing here, Haruno?" he asked, frowning at the pink-haired girl standing in the doorway. While he had to admit—even if only to himself—that her actions in the forest had somewhat impressed him, he had no idea why Kurenai would have asked him to meet her now; she had nothing to do with Orochimaru, at least that he knew of.

Sakura frowned back at him, shrugging as she stepped into the room and sat down at one of the empty desks. "If I knew, I would tell you," she said, sounding tired. "Jiraiya-sama told me to come here after practice today, but I don't know why. Trust me, I'd much rather be back at my apartment getting something to eat."

"Good, you're both here. Let's get this over with, since I don't think any of us want to think about this stuff any longer than we have to."

Sasuke whirled around at the sound of another female voice, this one coming from behind him—and unlike when Sakura had entered the room, he couldn't sense her presence at all. His hand was already dropping down to his kunai holster before he aborted the motion, recognizing the jounin who had introduced herself as the examiner for the second part of the chuunin exams. That, at least, explained the lack of chakra signature; Kurenai had taught him and his teammates the genjutsu used to conceal one's chakra, and though none of them were able to leave it active for more than a minute or two at a time, it made sense that a jounin wouldn't have that problem.

"Let me guess," the woman said, smirking at Sasuke's reaction. "Nobody bothered to tell you—" she pointed at him— "who you'd be meeting, did they? Can't say I blame them.

"And you," she continued, this time pointing at Sakura, who was looking at her with a puzzled expression on her face. "That old pervert probably didn't even tell you why you're here, did he? If the Hokage himself hadn't told me, I'm not sure I would've believed anyone would be crazy enough to teach—well, never mind. It's not like there aren't plenty of people who wonder how the Fourth could have been crazy enough to let me stay a ninja after what I did, so I guess we've got something in common."

Sasuke frowned, having no idea what to make of that comment. He—along with everyone else his age—knew that there was something different about Haruno Sakura, and it seemed as though this jounin knew what that was, but her words shed no light on the situation at all. Fortunately for him, he didn't really _care_ about his fellow genin's secret, whatever it was, so he shrugged and dismissed the thought. He had to admit, though, that the stunned expression on her face was somewhat amusing.

"So…then…but—" Sakura stopped and visibly regathered her composure before speaking again. "Why _am_ I here, then, Mitarashi-san?" she asked. "If it's because of something the Hokage told you…is it because of how I've been studying fuuinjutsu?"

The jounin—Sasuke remembered her name, now, thanks to Sakura; Mitarashi Anko—nodded. "Yep," she said. "Apparently your new teacher wants to find out how good you are before he shows you anything, and the Hokage thought this would be the perfect opportunity."

Anko's smile, which already seemed somewhat forced to Sasuke, slipped complete for a moment following her words. She tossed a bundle of yellowing papers down on one of the desks, then wiped her hands against the fabric of her utility vest as though she had just let go of something dirty.

"You can start looking through those notes, while I tell a story to the Uchiha," she said, her mouth twisting into a bitter grimace. "If you're as good as the Hokage says, it shouldn't take you too long to figure them out." Grabbing Sasuke's arm, she led him over to the other side of the classroom.

"Sit," she ordered, and, though he was growing more and more annoyed with the woman's peremptory behavior, Sasuke found himself obeying. Something in the way she carried herself, as though she was being forced to revisit the site of an old injury, caused him to defer to her for the moment.

Anko paced restlessly back and forth for a moment before finally settling on the desk opposite to Sasuke's and fixing him with a curious stare. "So my old master wants you to join him, huh?" she asked, after a short, unsettling period of silence. "I'm not surprised, I guess. He always was interested in those sharingan eyes, and you're just about his only chance of getting some to study, now."

"What?" Sasuke blurted out, causing Sakura to look up from her work, even though they were on opposite ends of the room. "Orochimaru is your old—wait, how do I know you're not working for him right now?" he demanded, letting his chakra fill him as he tensed his muscles.

"Don't be stupid, kid," Anko replied, though beneath the disgust in her voice, he thought she sounded disappointed and even a little hurt by his accusation. "First of all, you may be some sort of genius for your age, but you _are_ only a genin. If I wanted to do anything to you, I'd have done it already. Second, you don't think we're alone, do you? Jiraiya is watching everything that's going on in this room right now, and the Hokage probably is too.

"Now, shut up and listen. I'm doing this as a favor to the Hokage and your jounin-sensei, but I'm not going to sit here and let you make smart-ass comments on things you don't know anything about. Got it?"

Sasuke winced. She was very obviously annoyed with him, to the point where he could feel it in her chakra signature, which she was not making any attempt to hide any more. No matter how much he might bristle internally at the way she was treating him, he found himself not wanting to push her self-control too much further, especially if she was telling the truth about being Orochimaru's apprentice—or, he supposed, ex-apprentice. Grudgingly, he swallowed his pride and nodded to her, settling back into his seat.

"Wonderful," she said scornfully, though the threatening aura surrounding her faded somewhat as she began to speak again. "Now, our story begins back when a little girl had just passed her tests to become a genin, several years ahead of the rest of her age group. She showed a great deal of promise, and so she was offered a special chance: to study directly under one of the legendary sannin—and not just any sannin, but the one everyone thought would become the next Hokage of the Leaf.

"The sannin taught his new apprentice many things during the next few years—powerful summoning techniques, advanced taijutsu, and many other techniques, some of which were forbidden. The girl never questioned her master or wondered if it was right for her to be learning some of the things he taught her, even though she should have known that some of them were forbidden for a reason. After a while, the sannin began to have her help him with his research, but still, despite the things she found herself doing for him, she never disobeyed him. The Leaf were at war, he told her, and so any methods were justified when it came to learning how to stop the enemy."

Sasuke was far from stupid; obviously, the sannin was Orochimaru and the girl had grown up to become the woman sitting in front of him. Despite that transparency, though, he found himself becoming caught up in her tale, and when she paused, he realized he was actually leaning forward in his eagerness to hear more. Disgusted by such a blatant show of emotion, he snorted to himself and slouched back in his seat, though the flash of amusement that played across Anko's face showed that he hadn't managed to fool her.

"Orochimaru—because I'm sure by now you've guessed who the sannin is," she continued, smiling mirthlessly, "had no intention of sharing the results of his research with anyone, of course, let alone the village leaders, but his student was so caught up in her admiration for him that she believed every word he said. He continued his experiments, which grew more and more elaborate as time passed, and one day, he came to her and told her that he had made a fantastic discovery.

"It was a seal, which could be tattooed on a ninja in order to increase his or her abilities beyond human limitations. He wanted his student, who had done so much to help him, to be the first to enjoy the benefits of their hard work. Such a kind teacher, don't you think?"

The bitterness and loathing in her voice and chakra aura were nearly thick enough to choke on, and Sasuke realized he had begun to unconsciously edge away from her. Whatever Orochimaru had done to her, she had very obviously never forgiven him for it, and he was reminded of his own hatred for his brother. Just as he was about to ask what had happened with the seal, though, they were interrupted by a loud, almost frightened cry from Sakura, who had stood up and was regarding the papers Anko had given her with a horrified expression.

"Well, that was fast," Anko muttered. "I'll let Pinkie tell you all about that _wonderful_ seal Orochimaru developed, then." Unconsciously, her left hand crept up to rub her right shoulder, and she shuddered slightly. Sasuke noted that she didn't seem at all surprised by the vehemence of his fellow genin's reaction to whatever she had discovered.

"Mitarashi-san, is this—did Orochimaru actually use this on you?" Sakura asked as Sasuke and Anko walked over to stand next to her. Her eyes were wide, and she had a curious look of sympathy on her face, which Sasuke didn't even want to try to guess at the reasons for. He was already getting the impression, though, that this seal—whatever it did—was something to stay far away from.

Anko frowned. "Yeah," she admitted, rubbing her shoulder again. She snatched her hand away when she realized what she was doing, then, with a clear show of reluctance on her face, pulled aside the fabric of her utility vest to reveal a dark splotch tattooed near the junction of her neck and shoulder.

"There it is," she said. "One Cursed Seal of Heaven…aren't I lucky? I can't use it, at least, which—well, it's definitely a good thing, even if I didn't think so at the time." She rearranged her clothing to hide the seal once more before turning back to Sakura, who seemed relieved by her words.

"I guess you were able to figure out what the seal's true purpose is, huh?" she asked, then gestured to Sasuke. "Tell him. I don't need to hear it, though; I've heard it all already, more times than I want to."

With that, she turned and walked away, settling down into the instructor's chair at the front of the room. "You'd better listen to her too, brat!" she called out, before pointedly turning her back on the two genin.

Sasuke fumed for a moment at her rude dismissal, then, a frown etched onto his face, looked at Sakura. After Anko's story, he had all but decided that accepting any help from Orochimaru would be the height of stupidity, but he found himself morbidly curious as to what this seal did that was so awful. He knew almost nothing about those kinds of techniques, yet if they could produce such a strong reaction from a seasoned jounin, perhaps he should learn more about them.

"Well?" he demanded, after several seconds had passed and Sakura remained silent. "Are you going to tell me whatever it is you're supposed to?"

Sakura gave a startled noise as she appeared to remember she was not alone in the room. "Oh!" she said, shaking her head. "I guess, if you really want to know. You probably don't, though."

"Just tell me," Sasuke said, glowering at her. He was beginning to get annoyed at how skittish she was acting; she had never impressed him all that much as a fighter, but after the way she had saved one of the other genin in the forest, he had at least begun to respect her courage, and he couldn't see why a simple seal would upset her so much.

"Right." Sakura's expression grew firmer, and she picked up one of the pieces of paper and held it out to him. "Orochimaru's seal is actually two seals in one. The first seal just acts as…I guess you could call it a chakra battery. It siphons chakra from your coils and stores it inside itself. Then, if you're in a fight, you can tap the seal for the stored chakra, which has obvious uses."

Sasuke nodded. The scribblings on the paper she was holding meant nothing to him, but the assurance in her voice convinced him that she knew what she was talking about. Still, he didn't see what was so bad about the so-called 'cursed' seal, in that case; it sounded like it could be _very_ useful, actually.

"That sounds pretty good, doesn't it?" Sakura asked, echoing his own thoughts. "It would be especially useful for someone like me, with low reserves, but even someone with a lot of natural chakra could use the extra from the seal to boost their strength, speed, or whatever else above the normal limits. Unfortunately, not all of the chakra gets returned to you when you activate the seal, at least according to these notes.

"Some of it goes into this second seal, and if _that_ gets enough chakra fed into it to become active…well—" she shrugged and held out another sheet of paper, this one no less incomprehensible than the first— "the results are pretty obvious."

If there was anything Sasuke hated more than his brother, it was other people flaunting their superiority to him. Intellectually, he knew he couldn't be the best at absolutely everything—his teammates would always be better at tracking, for example—but having a weakness so blatantly pointed out infuriated him. Allowing the anger he felt to show in his expression, he glared at Sakura.

"What?" she asked defensively, taking a step back from him. "It's—oh." Her cheeks flushed red from embarrassment, and an apologetic expression appeared on her face as she stepped back up to show him the paper again.

"Sorry, that was pretty rude, wasn't it?" she murmured. "I guess I really do get too caught up in whatever I'm studying. It's a good thing Naruto and Hinata weren't here to see that, or they'd never let me forget it."

"Whatever," Sasuke grunted. Her apology seemed sincere, but by this point, he just wanted the annoying girl to tell him whatever she knew. The sooner she did that, the sooner he could leave and she could go back to her equally annoying friends.

Apparently deciding that that was the closest she would get to an acknowledgement of her apology, Sakura set down the paper she had been holding and motioned for him to follow her up to the front of the room. Swiftly, yet with obvious care and precision, she drew a six-rayed spiral shape on the blackboard there, then added a number of characters spaced at intervals around it. Another spiral came next, this one formed from three tomoe and reminiscent of what the sharingan looked like when it was active, followed by a single character repeatedly drawn wherever the two designs intersected.

"Spirals," she said, turning away from the blackboard to face him, "represent equivalency or exchange when they appear in seals, depending on which direction they're drawn in. The first one here is an exchange—meaning something has been given up in order to gain something else."

As she tapped three symbols forming an equilateral triangle around the diagram, a curious expression appeared on her face, though it vanished before Sasuke could make it out. "This is what the user of the seal gives up," she said. "Mind, body, and soul—or, when they're used together like this, it can simply mean 'everything'.

"This," she added, tapping the other three outer symbols, "is what the user gains. Again, mind, body, and soul—but inverted, representing a separate entity. This part of the seal is an…enticement, I guess you could say. Once the seal activates, it sacrifices part of whoever activates it and, in exchange, attracts something else—a minor spirit of some sort, I suppose, probably whichever one happens to be closest at the time."

The confidence in Sakura's voice as she spoke was a sharp contrast to her embarrassed apologies of just a minute ago, and Sasuke couldn't help but think that it suited her better. At the academy, he had thought of her as another bottom of the class pretend ninja who would quit as soon as things got difficult, but his opinion of her—as with a number of other things, it seemed—had begun to change over the past several months. She might not be well suited for a front-line combat role, but Kurenai's lessons and the joint team exercises had taught him that in the long run, there was a lot more to being a ninja than just fighting.

That didn't make sitting through an impromptu lecture on fuuinjutsu any more interesting, though, he thought. As she continued to explain—at great, and, in his opinion unnecessary length—exactly how using the seal too often would lead to the user becoming a hollow shell of a person, inhabited by a twisted mixture of his or her original personality and whatever wandering spirit was attracted by the seal, Sasuke couldn't help the bored sigh that escaped his mouth.

"Why don't you just say that the seal turns you into a demon, and leave it at that?" he asked, during a momentary pause in her explanation. "All this extra stuff is just a waste of time."

For some reason, that seemed to affect Sakura more strongly than anything else he had said to her that night, to the point where she actually went rigid with shock. Visibly fighting to control herself, she slowly relaxed a bit, then nodded to him. He noted that she remained tense, though, and wary, as though she expected to be attacked at any moment. That seemed odd, as the only other person in the room was the jounin, Anko, who was very deliberately ignoring both of them.

"I guess that's a good summary," she muttered after a moment. More loudly, she continued, "All right, fine. The short version of the second part of the seal is that it forms an equivalence between the minds of the seal's user and its creator. Since it's connected to the first seal, it affects the mind of the trapped spirit, too, meaning that eventually all that's left is something that literally can't do or even think about anything except what Orochimaru wants. I don't know how long it would take for that to happen—he didn't know either, and these must be the notes he left behind when he fled the village—but it _would_ happen eventually.

"There, all done. Good night, Uchiha-kun, Mitarashi-san." With that, she all but fled the classroom, vanishing out the door as quickly and efficiently as any ninja could ever have wished.

"Not a bad explanation," Anko said as she stood up and moved over to the door as well. "She left something out, though, probably because it wasn't in any of those notes. Orochimaru put that seal on nine other people too, not just me, but I was the only one who actually lived through it. Ten percent survival rate…think about that, and about why, if the seal is so great, he doesn't have one himself."

Her words seemed to echo in the empty classroom, sending a chill down Sasuke's back. No, he decided, he would definitely not be requesting the Snake Sannin's assistance any time soon—or at all, if he could help it.

- - -

_Breathe in, breathe out_, Sakura repeated to herself as she sat cross-legged on the surface of the river. The chakra expenditure required to keep from floating away with the current was just enough to prevent her from being able to relax and fall into the familiar patterns of meditation, but, fortunately, that wasn't her goal for this exercise. Forming a quick series of hand seals, she stretched out with her chakra, allowing it to infuse the water beneath her in much the same way as she used it to manipulate the air for the Wind Engraving technique.

The sun shone directly down on her, a bead of sweat tickling her as it slid down her cheek despite the cool air, but she blocked out that minor distraction and forced herself to concentrate even harder on what she was trying to accomplish. At what seemed like an agonizingly slow pace, the surface of the water around her began to still, eventually settling into a glassy, mirror-bright plane. The river continued to run to either side, as well as underneath, but Sakura was now seated upon a thin, perfectly flat layer of calm.

_And now for the hard part_, she thought. Working swiftly, she spun out another thread of chakra, even as she took great pains not to disturb the steady flows which were keeping the water around her still and herself from falling into that water. She had lost count of the number of times she had already fallen in the river over the past several days, and even if it was shallow and relatively slow-moving, it was still cold, and she was tired of getting wet every few minutes.

Maintaining so many separate chakra constructs was harder than it had sounded when Jiraiya described it to her, but she thought she was starting to get a feel for it; at least now she could see that it really was a useful lesson, and not just an excuse for the old lecher to ogle her in her bathing suit. She didn't think he was _quite_ that perverted, but after hearing from Ino about the rumors going around that a strange, white-haired man had recently been spotted sneaking around the women's sections of the bath houses, she wouldn't put it past him.

Sakura held her breath as she stared at the water in front of her, willing it to conform to the chakra she had laced into it. Slowly, a tiny dimple, then a dent, began to deform the flat surface. The displacement was so slight that she wondered for a moment if she were imagining it, but as it grew deeper, she silently exulted at her success. Grinning to herself, she mentally traced the tiny chakra flow back and forth and watched the indentation in the water follow accordingly.

She had just started trying to create something more intricate than a simple dent when a loud bang echoed through the air, instantly breaking her concentration—and, a moment later, the chakra flows keeping her above the surface of the river. The result was both predictable and an annoyingly familiar sensation, and she swore to herself as she stood up and waded out of the water. Grabbing the towel she had prudently set on the river bank beforehand, she began to dry herself off, even as she looked around for the most likely culprit.

"Naruto!" she yelled, spotting him not far away. Brightly colored rubber scraps from a burst balloon littered the grass around him, providing an immediate answer as to what had disturbed her. Draping her towel around her neck, she stormed over to him, though the squelching sounds made by her wet feet—not to mention the barely-suppressed giggles coming from Hinata's direction—completely ruined her attempt to appear intimidating.

"Um…would it help if I said I was sorry?" her blond friend asked, the amusement openly displayed on his face giving the lie to his apology, which sounded rather half-hearted in any event. Hinata, now openly laughing at the two of them, abandoned her perch atop the tall wooden pole on which she had been balancing, landing on the grass with an elegance and grace that Sakura couldn't help but envy.

"Poor Sakura-chan," Hinata teased, giving Sakura's sopping wet hair a playful tug as she passed by to stand next to Naruto. "Don't you think she falls in enough already without you distracting her, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto pretended to consider the question for a moment, then shook his head and brightly replied, "Nope!"

_Of course not_, Sakura groaned to herself. _It wouldn't be nearly as funny if I stopped falling in, now would it?_ Reluctantly, she admitted that this time, though, it had just been a case of bad timing. Ever since Jiraiya had split the team up for individual lessons, Naruto had been working just as hard on figuring out how to pop that balloon as she had on her tricks with the water, and she supposed she should be happy he had finally managed it.

"You're not really mad, are you, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, now looking at her with a hint of concern. "I didn't think it would be that loud."

Sakura sighed, releasing the last vestiges of her annoyance as she did so. It was impossible to stay angry with Naruto for long, especially over something as trivial as yet another dunking in the river after the dozen or more she had already suffered since lunchtime. Luckily, it was a fairly warm day given the time of year, so she wasn't feeling quite as chilled as she did after practice on some days.

"No, not really," she said, giving her teammates a reassuring, albeit small, smile. "I think I've finally figured out how to split my concentration well enough keep three flows active at the same time, but if you were able to distract me, I guess that means I need more practice."

Naruto nodded, looking relieved. Then he frowned and looked around. "Where's Ero-Sennin?" he asked. "I need him to tell me what to do next, because I don't think a balloon-popping technique is going to help much in a fight, except maybe against a clown."

Picturing Naruto squaring off in a classic dueling position against a ninja disguised as a street performer, both of them armed only with huge clusters of balloons, Sakura couldn't help but laugh. One look at Hinata's face showed that the other girl had apparently had a similar thought, as she was desperately trying to contain her own laughter. Naruto, on the other hand, was looking back and forth between them, the expression on his face quite clearly conveying his opinion of their sanity.

"He's probably off 'practicing his infiltration techniques' in the nearest women's dressing room," Hinata dryly replied after the two girls had recovered from their shared amusement, causing both Naruto and Sakura to sigh in unison. Jiraiya—or Ero-Sennin, as Naruto had aptly dubbed him after their first day together—could be frustratingly inconsistent, one day working the three genin to the point of exhaustion, and the next day abandoning them to their own devices. They still hadn't managed to decide whether he was actually doing something important during the times he wasn't with them or whether he was merely indulging his baser whims.

Sakura, in particular, wondered when, or even if, he would start teaching her fuuinjutsu as he had implied he would. After he had sent her to speak with Sasuke a few days ago, she had been sure he would begin soon, but instead, it seemed all she had gotten out of that particular incident was a newfound appreciation for the Fourth's skill. The cursed seal Orochimaru had created was frighteningly similar to her own seal in some ways, yet the Fourth had managed to avoid the problem with the host and trapped spirit gradually fusing into one being.

_Not that Orochimaru saw that as a problem_, she thought, shuddering slightly. The knowledge of how she might have ended up if not for the Fourth's brilliance made her feel ill, especially since she was almost certain that Orochimaru's seal design, modified to be able to affect a demon of the Nine-Tails' power, would have been sufficient for the Fourth's purposes. Rather than take that easy way out, though, he had broken it down to its most basic elements and remade it at great personal cost in an attempt to ensure that the person on which he used it would not become a slave to either the demon inside her or those who might wish to use her as a living weapon.

Sakura was certain, based on what she had read, that she would rather die than live as such an abomination, and it only redoubled her desire to learn enough that she might eventually be able to free the Fourth's spirit from its prison of his own devising. She hoped Jiraiya would be able to help her, but if not, she would not stop until she found someone who could.

- - -

As Naruto trudged dispiritedly up the walkway to his front door, he sighed and shook his head. Even though he had finally managed to complete the strange chakra exercise Jiraiya had given him, that accomplishment was overshadowed by his increasing worry for Sakura. Over the past few days, she had grown distant and easily distracted, often staring off into space for long periods of time, and she refused to say what was bothering her. He knew Hinata was concerned as well, though she concealed it better than he did.

"I'm home!" he called out, slipping off his shoes as he walked into his house and closed the door behind him. It was still early enough in the afternoon that he wasn't sure whether his mother would be home yet or not, but without Jiraiya there to instruct them, he and his teammates had decided to call an early halt to the day's training.

Naruto would be willing to bet, though, that all of them intended to practice some more on their own; he knew he did, after he got something to eat, and he suspected Hinata's father would want to spar with her for a while. He was less sure about Sakura—especially as she had less immediate motivation than her teammates, since she would not be competing in the final round of the exams—but something about the way she had been acting recently made him suspect that she had reasons of her own to work equally hard. He just wished he knew what those reasons were, or if there was any way he could help her.

Taking off his jacket and tossing it so that it hung haphazardly off the hall closet's doorknob, he wandered into the kitchen in search of food. To his surprise, he saw his mother sitting in a half-lotus position at the table there, apparently deep in meditation. That explained why she had failed to greet him earlier, but he couldn't remember the last time he had seen her meditating by herself; she had confessed to him, once, that it was not something at which she was especially adept, a trait which she had apparently passed on to him.

Disturbing her would probably be a bad idea, Naruto decided, so he turned to leave, but she opened her eyes just as he was about to step out of the kitchen. "Welcome home," she said as she stood up, stretching her legs. "Jiraiya didn't try anything today, did he?"

Naruto wished he could say she was being overly cautious, but, sadly, he couldn't. Odd as it might have seemed, he had a feeling that the fact that both of his teammates were girls was actually reining in the sannin's more outrageous tendencies, and he shuddered to think of what Jiraiya might be trying to convince him to do by now if not for them. Still, he wasn't sure how Hinata and Sakura were managing to put up with the constant stream of innuendo coming from the old man, most of which was directed at them.

"No, Mother," he replied, shaking his head. "Ero-Sennin wasn't even there most of the time today. I did manage to pop the balloon, finally, but I don't see how that's supposed to help me learn any new techniques."

His mother gave him a mysterious smile. "Jiraiya may be a pervert, but he does know how to teach," she said. "I don't think you'll be disappointed by his lessons."

Naruto knew enough to realize that his mother would say no more on that subject, no matter how much he pleaded. Then a grin spread across his features as he thought about what had happened after he managed to pop the first balloon, and he couldn't help but laugh at the memory of Sakura stalking grumpily towards him, dripping wet from her latest immersion in the river.

"If the rest of the training is anything like this, I think I'm going to have to do it in private," he said in response to his mother's curious look, after he explained what had happened. "Otherwise, Sakura will probably be plotting to kill me before I manage to get it all worked out."

Instantly, Naruto knew he had said the wrong thing, as her face became a blank mask, devoid of all expression. Cursing to himself, he frowned as he reviewed his words for a hint as to whatever might have upset her. He knew that Sakura was an uncomfortable subject for his mother, but normally she seemed almost hungry for any news of his pink-haired teammate. That was the only thing he could think of that might have provoked such a reaction, though.

_Why don't you talk to her?_ he almost asked, then winced at the thought. One cardinal household rule, albeit an unspoken one, was that as much as his mother enjoyed hearing about Sakura through Naruto, she refused to meet her in person. It had been that way ever since Naruto first became friends with her, and until now he had always respected his mother's wishes in that regard.

Maybe it was time that changed, though. Hinata would say—had said, actually—that he shouldn't try to force the matter, but he wasn't sure she was right about that; it hurt to see two of the most important people in his life unhappy when they didn't have to be. It was obvious his mother wasn't happy with the way things were, and he knew that Sakura, despite all of his attempts to convince her otherwise, still wondered whether she was unwelcome in his house because of who she was.

Now was a bad time to do anything about the situation, because of the chuunin exams, but Naruto resolved to find a way to fix things once they were over. Even if he wasn't sure exactly how he would go about that just yet, he was sure he could come up with something, especially if he managed to convince Hinata to help. Despite her misgivings, he didn't think that would take too much work, and he made a mental note to talk to her about it the next time they met.

- - -

Hinata hummed quietly as she walked through the small garden she had set aside for herself. It was nothing spectacular compared to some of the other gardens in the Hyuuga compound, but she knew every plant in it by heart, and she had tended them with her own hands ever since she could remember. She knew her father thought it was a hobby unworthy of the clan's heir, yet for whatever reason, he indulged her in this regard, if in few others.

The twilight, she thought, always brought out the best aspects of her garden. Even in winter, a few hardy seasonal flowers continued to bloom, and their colors and scents seemed somehow richer during that time when the last few lingering traces of sunlight still stained the western sky, yet the moon and stars were faintly visible overhead as well. Shivering slightly and pulling her jacket closer around her, she began to walk more swiftly towards the main building; her father might indulge her to an extent, but that tolerance would end in a moment if she kept him waiting. Hopefully she would not disappoint him tonight as she had the past several nights.

As she stepped over the threshold and slid the outer door closed behind her, Hinata looked up and smiled briefly at the sound of light, rapidly approaching footsteps. Moments later, a tiny, dark-haired missle burst into the entryway, loose white robes swirling around her as she came to a sudden stop.

"Hina-neechan!" the little girl exclaimed, before coloring slightly and glancing down in embarrassment. More sedately, she walked over to Hinata and bowed, glancing up through her bangs with an anxious look on her face.

Hinata smiled down at her sister, feeling a sudden warmth flow through her as she solemnly bowed in response. "Hello, Hanabi-chan," she said. "How was your day?"

"Good!" Hanabi replied happily, almost literally bouncing with impatience as she waited for Hinata to finish taking off her shoes. "I studied poetry today, and how to clean kunai so they stay sharp, and Akira-sensei read me a really good story, too, about the Yuki-no-Onna. It was sad, though."

Hinata stepped up next to her sister, then took her hand. As they walked down the hallway together, she sighed, realizing that by the time she was finished with the rest of her training for the night, Hanabi would already be in bed. While she didn't begrudge the time spent with her father, whether it was spent learning how to fight or how to govern, she couldn't help but wish she could have more time for the one who was, in a very real sense, her motivation for so many things.

Seven years ago, the attempted kidnapping by the Cloud had almost ruined Hinata. Looking back on her memories of that time, she didn't like to think about what might have become of her if not for Naruto and his mother, especially as, barely a month prior to that incident, her own mother had died giving birth to Hanabi. Her father, suffering from the double loss of his wife and twin brother, had entirely occupied himself with the affairs of the clan and village, and at some point, Hinata had realized she would do almost anything to keep her sister safe from the kinds of problems to which she herself had already been exposed—including become a 'proper' heir as her father expected of her.

She knew it would be hard, but with Naruto to help her, she was determined to become strong enough to lead and protect everyone in her clan, especially the sister she quickly grew to adore. It had not been until she was eleven years old, though, that the reality of her future situation fully struck her. One day, she had chanced upon her father using the branch seal to punish her cousin Neji—for what, she didn't know—and for the first time, she truly understood the implications of the fact that on the day she assumed her position as head of the clan, she would be expected to place that seal on Hanabi. While she had always disliked the concept of the branch seal in an abstract sense, that day she had resolved that it would die with her father.

An insistent tugging on her sleeve drew her attention away from her wandering thoughts and back to her sister, who was looking up at her with an expression on her face halfway between annoyance and uncertainty. Blushing slightly, Hinata realized she had completely missed whatever Hanabi had been saying, and she shook her head. Between her concerns over Sakura's recent behavior and her lack of progress in adapting some of the jyuuken's more advanced defensive techniques to suit her own personal style of fighting, she had more than enough to worry about without dragging up old memories.

"I'm sorry, Hanabi-chan," she murmured, making an impulsive decision to delay meeting with her father for a little while longer. "Come on, let's go get a snack, and I'll tell you another story, okay?"

Her father would be upset with her, no doubt, but she had gained practice over the past several years in deflecting or weathering his anger, and she resolved to work especially hard that evening to make it up to him. Compared to the delighted expression on her sister's face as they headed towards the kitchen, any possible punishment seemed unimportant anyways.

- - -

Author's Notes: My thanks to all of you who are continuing to read this story! It's great to know that people are actually looking forward to new chapters, and I hope you all enjoyed this one as well. There was quite a lot of foreshadowing, some obvious, some...not so much, and things will begin to heat up next chapter. As for my interpretation of the cursed seal, I must confess that I haven't been following the newer chapters of the manga very closely due to an increasing lack of both time and interest, so I apologise if anything in here directly contradicts recent canon. Regardless, conceptually associating Orochimaru's cursed seal and the Shiki Fuujin was far too tempting an opportunity to pass up for several reasons, so hopefully it doesn't come across as being completely unreasonable.

As always, thank you all for reading this, and I look forward to your comments!


	21. Twenty: Storm Warnings

Over the course of her life, Sakura had gained more experience with the saying 'Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it' than she ever could have wanted, but never had it seemed more appropriate than now. As she stared down at the small mountain of scrolls, books, and loose papers that occupied a good portion of the surface of the table in front of her, she sighed heavily, wondering how long it would take her to go through all of them.

Technically, she supposed, Jiraiya was making good on his offer to teach her by giving her all of this reading material, but she had hoped for something a bit more hands-on. She couldn't deny, though, that the part of her that had never outgrown her love for books of all kinds was positively salivating at the sight of so many rare texts, and she also felt a bit—more than a bit, if she were to be honest with herself—flattered by what the old sannin had said to her before leaving her alone.

'_You've got a good grasp on the basics of forming and activating seals, so there isn't all that much I can _teach_ you,'_ he had told her, for once seeming every bit the wise, powerful ninja she knew lay under his usual demeanor. _'The true power of fuuinjutsu lies in versatility, creativity, and adaptation, which aren't things that can be taught. It's a lot like genjutsu, actually, except easier to study by yourself, since you don't need another person to practice techniques with.'_

Despite his praise, part of Sakura wondered whether it had just been a polite way of telling her that he wasn't sure what to do with her, ever since she had succeeded in being able to maintain up to four separate chakra constructs even with Naruto deliberately trying to disrupt her concentration. It didn't really matter, she supposed, since she wouldn't be participating in the chuunin exam combat trials like Naruto and Hinata would, but she still felt a bit left out. Then again, given that Naruto had progressed from balloons to thick-shelled rubber balls in his own training, she was somewhat glad that her ears would be spared the torment of having to listen to him.

_And it's not like Jiraiya-sama won't be teaching me anything at all_, she told herself. He had said he would be checking up on her progress, both to see what she was learning as well as to ensure she wasn't delving into anything too dangerous—not that Sakura was sure what might be included in that, when he had expressly encouraged her to look for information on possession and exorcism, the binding of spirits into physical vessels, and even summoning. Compared to those, everything else she could think of seemed fairly tame, but she supposed he knew much more about that sort of thing than she did.

Several hours later, Sakura was convinced that, if anything, Jiraiya had been understating the potential dangers. So far, she had only glanced through most of the texts in the pile, but already she had begun to mentally sort them into 'useful,' 'useless but interesting,' and 'should be locked in a steel vault and thrown into the ocean' categories, with an alarmingly high percentage falling under the latter classification. One scroll had even discussed the possibility of reanimating the dead, and she had had to consciously restrain herself from incinerating the loathsome thing.

Still, she had also found a fair number of manuscripts which were more along the lines of what she was interested in—though, to her dismay, one of the most informative-looking ones happened to also be one of the most disturbing. On the most basic level, it dealt with the separation and dissociation of spiritual entities that had somehow become entwined, but then it took a turn for the horrific and presented a seal which, when activated, would forcibly and permanently sever the attachment between a person's spirit and his or her body. Unlike the necromantic scroll, it wasn't something that could be classified as kinjutsu, but it still made her skin crawl.

_Of course, I've been neck-deep—or perhaps stomach-deep—in studying kinjutsu since I was eight years old, more or less_, Sakura thought to herself, feeling a wry smile appear on her lips. When she thought about it that way, she became more grateful than ever for the care with which the Hokage had taught her—as well as, now that she had seen the kinds of things Orochimaru had done, the fact that he had agreed to teach her at all. In a way, though, the ease with which she was able to interpret and understand some of the darker techniques frightened her, though it was also a testament to how much he, and now Jiraiya as well, trusted her.

Spotting a much safer-appearing book than the ones she had been examining earlier, Sakura pushed her doubts and concerns to the back of her mind. After listening to her theories on the possible usefulness of resonance between identical or similar seals, Jiraiya had challenged her to develop a seal of her own that would take advantage of her idea, and she was eager to prove her point to him. Unfortunately, all of the concepts she had come up with thus far dealt with the seal imprisoning the Nine-Tails, and regardless of what anyone else said, she knew she was not yet ready to experiment with _that_.

_But, I could probably adapt the same principles to work with one of the lesser seals_, Sakura thought, the first glimmerings of an idea beginning to come to her. She had already worked out what she believed could be a way for a spirit trapped in a seal to be able to interact with the outside world through the medium of another, resonant seal, but given up on it as testing such a thing with the Nine-Tails was not an option for obvious reasons. If Jiraiya agreed to help her, though, she thought she could use one of the abundance of lesser nature spirits as a test subject; most were relatively harmless, some even benevolent, and it wasn't as though what she was planning would hurt them.

Before she talked with him, though, she needed to make sure her design took every possibility into account. This would be the first truly complex seal she had developed all by herself, and she was determined to make it perfect, especially as her success or failure—_no_, she thought, _I won't fail_—would reflect on the one who had taught her. It would require a great deal of time and effort, she knew, and she probably wouldn't see much of her friends until she was finished, but she was sure they would understand.

- - -

"No!" Hinata yelled, leaning away from the wobbly, unstable sphere of chakra forming in Naruto's hand. "It's going to—"

_Too late_, she groaned to herself as she watched the construct tear itself to pieces, releasing a miniature gale that flattened her clothes against her body and whipped her hair into even more of a tangled mess than it was already. She was beginning to grow exceedingly tired of this, but she had promised Naruto she would help him, and she would hardly abandon him over a bit of temporary annoyance. That didn't change the fact that she would be delighted beyond words if he were to suddenly master the technique on his next try, of course; this marked the fifth day since he had succeeded in bursting a rubber ball and Jiraiya told him to move on to using nothing but his own chakra, and he seemed no closer to success now than he had on the first day.

What was truly frustrating for Hinata was that she could see what was going wrong, but she couldn't find a way to describe it to Naruto well enough for him to understand, nor was she sure exactly what he needed to do to fix it. Telling him that the surrounding shell of chakra was being shredded away as the inner part ground against it was all well and good for her, since she knew what something like that looked like, but it was a long process of trial and error for him to attempt to correct the problem without being able to see what he was doing.

Not for the first time, she wondered how the Fourth Hokage had even managed to develop this technique in the first place without the unique advantages the byakugan offered for manipulating raw chakra. Chakra control via hand seals—or even on an instinctual level, as Sakura seemed to have learned to do—wasn't really the same thing at all, which was a major reason why non-Hyuuga had never been able to master the jyuuken and its associated techniques.

"I wish Sakura was here," Naruto sighed, dropping down to sprawl on the grass. "You saw all the weird stuff Ero-Sennin had her doing with her chakra, so I'm sure she could help us figure this out."

Hinata nodded, sighing along with him. Apparently their teammate was working on something for Jiraiya that was even more complicated than what she had been studying before, and for nearly the past two weeks she had been spending close to all of her time in either the Hokage's tower or the library, only coming out to eat and sleep. While Hinata could understand and respect her friend's dedication, that didn't change the fact that she missed Sakura—and not just because she could be helping with their training, either.

"Come on, it's your turn now," Naruto said abruptly, jumping to his feet and brushing off his pants. Grinning at her, he backed away a bit, then began tapping his foot on the ground in mock impatience when she failed to respond immediately.

_Thanks, Naruto-kun_, Hinata thought, giving him a brief smile before assuming a ready stance. He had a true gift for being able to bring her out of her more introspective moods, and while that could be somewhat annoying at times—she liked to tease him by saying that unlike him, she actually _enjoyed_ thinking—at others, like now, she couldn't be more grateful. Besides, it wasn't as though they would never see Sakura again, and she couldn't deny that she and Naruto both could use all the training time they could get at the moment.

Holding up her hands in front of her, she nodded to Naruto, signaling to him that he could begin. As he reached for something at his belt, she opened her chakra coils, creating paths from her center down her outstretched arms and terminating at her palms, which were beginning to itch with the built-up chakra. She knew it wasn't harmful, but that didn't make it any less comfortable, and she wished Naruto would start soon.

Then he whipped his hand forward, sending a small, round object swiftly towards her. As she had practiced so many times, she lifted her hand to intercept it, palm outwards, and allowed the gathered chakra to stream out of her now-opened tenketsu. With an actinic blue-white flash of light, the object—_practice shuriken_, she identified automatically—ricocheted from her hand and buried itself in the ground at her feet.

"Nice start," Naruto said, his grin beginning to take on a challenging edge. "Time for things to get interesting."

With no other warning than that, he began to throw what seemed like an endless stream of shuriken at Hinata, at first relatively slowly, then faster and harder. At some point, she realized he had switched from the practice weapons to real, sharpened ones, and she couldn't help but wince at the thought of what would happen if she missed one. Despite that, though, she found herself able to keep up with him, even when he started throwing two at once, and slowly she felt her mouth stretching in a grin to match his own.

Only when several seconds passed without any more bladed projectiles hurtling towards her did Hinata realize Naruto had stopped for some reason. Lowering her hands, she blinked several times in an attempt to clear the lingering spots from her vision, then gasped as she saw the number of shuriken, kunai, and senbon littering the ground in a fan-shaped area for nearly a meter in front of her. A light sheen of perspiration covered her skin, and she felt a hot, tingling sensation running down her arms that warned her she had come a bit too close to overextending herself.

"Wow, that was great, Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed. "I actually ran out of stuff to throw that time. Now…um, could you help me pick everything up again?" A sheepish smile crossed his face as he crouched down and began to gather the various throwing weapons lying on the ground.

Shaking her head, Hinata knelt down beside him, unable to keep from laughing at his disappointed expression. "What's the matter, upset you didn't get to draw blood today?" she teased. "I, for one, am perfectly happy I won't be adding another bandage to my collection."

"No, it's just that most of these are Mother's," he replied mournfully, prying at a half-buried kunai in an attempt to lever it out of the ground. "She made me promise to keep them in good shape, which means I'm going to have to clean them all now."

Hinata giggled, causing Naruto to look at her as though she had somehow betrayed him. "Stop that," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. "You know I'll help you clean everything up, especially since it's sort of my fault they got dirty. I'm still not sure why—oh!

"Come here," she ordered, standing up and pulling on his hand until he followed suit. He was looking at her oddly, clearly puzzled by her sudden change in attitude from playful to serious, but she was too excited by her sudden realization to answer his unspoken question.

"Now, try the Rasengan again, but this time, concentrate on making the outer shell…loose, I guess," she said, trailing off slightly as she narrowed her eyes in frustration. She knew exactly what she wanted him to try to do, but she couldn't think of the right way to describe it.

"Loose?" Naruto repeated after her, sounding even more puzzled than before.

Hinata nodded, still trying to think of a better way to explain what she wanted him to try. "Maybe not quite loose," she mused, nibbling absently on her lower lip. "Um…when you do it now, are you trying to keep it all still, or are you letting it move?"

"Keeping it still, of course," he replied. "If I didn't, wouldn't it fly out of my hand?" He glowered at said hand, as though blaming it for his failures to date.

"I don't think so," Hinata said, shaking her head. "As long as you can keep putting chakra into it, it'll stay attached to the tenketsu in your hand. At least, that's how…anyways, just try it."

Naruto still didn't look convinced—she couldn't blame him for that, as she knew she wasn't very good at explaining things—but he nodded anyways, adopting a look of intense concentration. Slowly, a misty blue ball of chakra took form in his cupped hand, and Hinata held her breath as it began to separate into two distinct layers. Then she relaxed, nodding as her suspicion was confirmed. As long as Naruto didn't try to force the outer shell to remain static, it continually recreated itself even as it was eroded away by the rapidly-rotating inner core, whereas before he was attempting to keep it intact through sheer power.

"You did it, Naruto-kun! I knew you could!" she said happily, smiling at him as he stared down at the swirling mass of chakra he was holding with a look of near-awe on his face. "Go on, try it out. You know you want to."

Seemingly in a daze, Naruto nodded, then turned to the tall wooden pole Hinata sometimes used for balance practice. He gingerly brushed his hand across its surface, producing a veritable explosion of splinters, which caused Hinata to take a half-step backwards and lift one hand to shield her face. When the dust and flying wood chips finally settled down, the pole bore a gouge several centimeters deep, perfectly matching the contour of the Rasengan itself.

"Wow," Naruto breathed, staring at the amount of damage even that minor experiment had caused. Then he looked down at his now-empty hand, and finally over at Hinata. A grin bigger than any she had ever seen on him before spread over his face, and he lunged at her, hugging her so hard she heard herself squeak. Stepping back, he looked at his hand once again before shaking his head in disbelief.

"It felt weird, trying to hold onto something without really _holding_ it," he said. "You're right, though, it didn't ever seem like it was going to slip away or anything. Is that the same kind of thing you do when you make those chakra shields?"

Despite her happiness, Hinata winced; she had hoped he wouldn't make that connection, especially since her 'chakra shields' were really just a more focused and directed form of the Kaiten. She had discovered while training with her father that she did not yet possess either the strength or the necessary level of full-body chakra control to safely use the Kaiten in its classic form, but she had managed to take the basic concept and apply it on a more limited scale. Unfortunately, that meant that it qualified as a Hyuuga clan secret—and while she herself had no problem sharing it with Naruto, she doubted her father would be as understanding if he were ever to find out she had said anything.

"It's…similar," she responded after a moment, and though she was sure Naruto had picked up on her hesitation, he thankfully said nothing.

"I think that's enough training for today. A little more practice over the next few days, and you'll both be ready for the tournament."

"Jiraiya-sama!" Hinata gasped, turning around to see the white-haired sannin casually leaning on the railing of the nearby bridge. She knew he couldn't have been watching them for too long, as she had only shut off her byakugan after Naruto successfully managed to form the Rasengan, but she really didn't like it when people were able to sneak up on her like that.

Naruto waved excitedly, then pointed to the damaged wooden pole. "Ero-Sennin, did you see?" he asked. "I finally figured it out! Well, with Hinata-chan's help, of course."

As expected, Jiraiya grumbled, "Stop calling me that, brat," but Hinata noticed it sounded even more like a mere formality than usual today. In fact, if she wasn't mistaken, the old man was looking at Naruto with something close to respect.

"Not bad," he finally said, after walking over and closely inspecting the damage done to the pole. Then, in a more serious tone, he added, "Your father would be proud of you, very much so."

For a moment, Hinata honestly thought Naruto might start crying at those words. In some ways, she knew, he was far more driven by the image of the father he had never known than she herself was by her own, living father, and now to hear something like what Jiraiya had just said…well, she knew how she would feel in his place. Moving quietly, she stepped over to stand next to him, placing one hand on his arm in a gesture of silent support.

"You too, Hyuuga-hime," Jiraiya said, instantly returning to his usual demeanor as he turned to regard her. "You're a credit to your family's skills, and as an added bonus, you still manage to act like an actual human being most of the time. Now go on, go do something fun—but not too fun; your other teammate might get jealous, and you don't want that."

Throwing her a wink, which made her curse her fair complexion as she felt herself blush involuntarily, the sannin vanished into thin air as suddenly as he had arrived. Hinata had a vague sort of feeling that she ought to be offended by what he had said—or at least implied—about her family, but at the moment, she was too excited by her friend's accomplishment to care.

"Come on," she said, tugging on Naruto's arm so that he would follow her, as he still appeared to be in a semi-dazed state of mind. "Let's go find Sakura and tell her. I'm sure she won't mind being interrupted for something like this."

- - -

_Today has been an absolutely perfect day_, Sakura decided as she walked out of the small restaurant, waving to Naruto and Hinata as they turned down the cross-street that led to the Hyuuga compound.

First, she had finally succeeded in figuring out the last few details of the seal—seal_s_, to be totally accurate—on which she had been working for the past two weeks, and then she found out her friends were making equally great progress in their own training. She still found it somewhat hard to believe that Naruto had learned to use the famed Rasengan so quickly, but maybe, she thought, she shouldn't be. He really did deserve his title of 'genius ninja,' and with Hinata there to help him learn to mold his chakra properly, perhaps his rapid success wasn't so surprising after all. Also, she had no doubt whatsoever that the fact that his father had been the one to invent the technique had motivated him to try even harder than he usually did.

Hinata, too, had apparently managed to accomplish something impressive, but both she and Naruto had been annoyingly close-mouthed about what exactly that was. All they had said was that not knowing would give Sakura a good incentive to pry herself away from her books and come watch the tournament.

_Like I'd even think about _not_ going,_ she thought, somewhat indignantly, even though she knew they had only been teasing her. After having missed the preliminary round at the forest arena, there was no way she would pass up the chance to cheer on her friends. At least they wouldn't have to fight each other in the first round the way Naruto and Ino had had to, though she wasn't sure whether Hinata saw that as a blessing or a curse, given the identity of her first opponent. Sakura just hoped her friend wouldn't talk herself into giving up right away.

Just then, she spotted a flash of blonde hair in the sparse early-evening crowd ahead of her and sped up a bit. She had been neglecting Ino recently in her fervor to finish the seal design she had been working on, and she winced in anticipation of the verbal lashing she would no doubt be receiving shortly. Still, she smiled happily to herself at the thought of being able to spend some time with her best friend, perhaps over dessert. After the large dinner Naruto and Hinata had insisted she eat, she wasn't exactly hungry, but she certainly wouldn't pass up a chance at some sweet dumplings or mochi-wrapped ice cream.

"Ino-chan, wait!" she called out, tapping her friend on the shoulder. When the other girl turned around, though, revealing someone who most definitely was not Ino, she felt her cheeks redden at the mistake. In her defense, she thought, Temari did bear a fairly close resemblance to Ino from behind, especially as her hair was down for the first time Sakura had seen since meeting her.

"Is there something you need, Sakura-san?" Temari asked, raising one blonde eyebrow in an expression of puzzlement.

"Oh, no," Sakura said, still faintly blushing. "I thought you were somebody else…sorry to bother you, Temari-san." Giving the other girl an apologetic smile, she turned to leave, but halted when she heard her name called in an almost hesitant-sounding voice.

"Sakura-san? Do you have time to talk?"

Sakura had hoped to spend a little more time checking over her work, since she would be showing it to Jiraiya and the Hokage tomorrow, but she nodded. Whatever Temari wanted to talk with her about probably wouldn't take too long, and it would be awfully rude to refuse. Besides, she had hoped to be able to spend some time with the Sand kunoichi anyways, even if that had fallen by the wayside after she started working in earnest on her fuuinjutsu studies.

"Sure," she said, smiling slightly at Temari. "There's a café near here that has good desserts, if you want to go there." Though the street wasn't all that busy at the moment, she was becoming increasingly conscious of the unfriendly stares people were starting to give her. Hopefully the café, which she went to from time to time with Ino and Hinata, wouldn't be very crowded, as she really didn't feel like having her day spoiled when it had been going so well up until then.

Temari nodded, and, giving a tiny sigh of relief, Sakura began heading towards the café; curiously, the other girl remained silent the entire time, causing Sakura to wonder just what she wanted to ask her. The trip didn't take long, though, and she was able to restrain her curiosity until they were inside and sitting down at one of the more secluded tables.

After the waitress had taken their orders and left, Sakura looked over at her companion and asked, "What did—"

"Not yet," Temari interrupted in an almost pleading tone. That was certainly not an attitude Sakura associated with her, given both her own interactions with the older girl as well as Naruto's account of the way she had fought in the elimination match after the second part of the chuunin exam. Now she was even more curious than ever, and she had to force herself to sit patiently and wait.

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long, as Temari seemed to come to some kind of decision. Looking over at Sakura, she asked, her voice so quiet it was almost a whisper, "What is it like, having something…inside of you?"

_What kind of weird question is that?_ Sakura wondered, looking askance at the older girl. _Like Shino-kun's bugs?_ She remembered Ino telling her about how it had felt when possessing the quiet boy, but somehow, she doubted that was what Temari meant. Besides, it wasn't like Sakura really knew anything about that.

"I…I don't understand what you mean," she said hesitantly, staring down at the table in an attempt to hide her sudden blush as another possibility came to her, followed immediately by the urge to slap herself for thinking things like that. Perhaps Hinata was right, and Jiraiya's perverted tendencies really _were_ contagious.

Temari laughed quietly, but it wasn't a happy sound. "No, of course you don't," she said, her voice turning hard and cynical. "Can't let the dirty little secret get out, after all. I guess I was hoping for too much, but I just—I can't ask him, but I still want to…never mind. Sorry for wasting your time, Haruno-san."

She stood up from the table, ignoring the curious glance the waitress gave her from across the room, and tossed several coins down on the table—enough to pay several times over for the pastry she had ordered, Sakura noticed. Then the _only_ possible interpretation of the Sand girl's hesitant, convoluted statements struck her, and she felt her heart freeze in her chest.

"No, wait!" she exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing Temari's hand, just as she turned to leave. For a moment, she was afraid the other girl would keep walking, but then, to Sakura's unutterable sense of relief, she sat back down.

_How does she know?_ was the only thing running through Sakura's mind just then. How had a foreign ninja learned what even her closest friends had been unable to figure out—and what would Temari do with that information? She didn't seem to want to use it to hurt Sakura, but in that case, why had she confronted her at all?

"I know you probably won't believe me," Temari said, after what seemed like an eternity of silence, "but I just want to ask you some questions. I don't understand how you can be so _different_. I've been watching, and people treat you the same way they do him—maybe even worse—but you don't act like him at all. Why is that?"

Like the last piece of a puzzle fitting into place, the older girl's references to 'him' sparked a sudden understanding in Sakura's mind, and she felt her mouth drop open. "Your brother," she murmured. "The one who found you that day I ran into you…Gaara, you said his name was. He's like me, isn't he?"

Thankfully, the waitress chose that moment to bring their orders over to their table, giving Sakura some time to attempt to figure out what was going on. Now that she thought about it, she realized she wasn't surprised in the slightest that the strange, frightening boy with the red hair and cold green eyes was the vessel for a demon, but that didn't answer the question of what Temari wanted with her. Then she thought of what the other girl had asked at first, as well as what she had said afterwards.

_Maybe she just wants to understand a little about her brother_, Sakura decided. _She seemed kind of scared of him, so I guess she doesn't want to ask him anything._

For some reason, that saddened her, and she made up her mind then to answer as many of the older girl's questions as she could, though she doubted she would be able to be very helpful. Just from what little she had seen—and now heard—she had a feeling that Gaara's seal was fairly different from her own. The first thing she had to do, though, was impress on Temari the importance of never mentioning what she had discovered. She didn't know how the law against speaking about the Nine-Tails might apply to people from outside the village, but she was sure it wouldn't be at all forgiving.

"Listen to me," she said, surprising herself with her own forcefulness. "You can't talk about this with anyone. What you said about a 'dirty little secret' is right, and there are laws against talking about it. Even most of my friends don't know. So just…I'll try to answer your questions, but no more."

Temari nodded, though Sakura's warning seemed to have provoked more curiosity than concern in her. "Okay," she replied, a small smile appearing on her lips for the first time that night. "Anything you can tell me would be good. My brother is…hard to talk to, so there are a lot of things I don't understand."

Somehow, Sakura had a feeling that that was an understatement. "I'm not sure how much help I'll be," she admitted. "The…_it_ is—well, it's sealed very tightly, so it's not even something I'm aware of. Maybe I'd be different if it wasn't there, but I don't really have any way of knowing, since I've had the seal ever since I was a baby. I'm just…me."

_Well, except for that time on our mission_, she remembered, but there was no way she was going to discuss that with anyone who didn't already know about it, let alone a foreign ninja with whom she was barely acquainted. No matter how nice the other girl seemed or how good her reasons were for wanting to know, there was a limit to what Sakura was willing to tell her.

The disappointed look on Temari's face was almost enough to make her change her mind, though. "I see," she said quietly. "I guess you're not very much like my brother after all. You can't hear what it says to you, or—or anything like that?"

"No," Sakura replied, shaking her head, even as part of her winced a little at the lie. She wondered what Temari had been about to say, then mentally shrugged; likely, it wasn't anything important. More interesting, though—albeit somewhat disturbing—was the implication that the demon inside Gaara actually spoke to him. Even aside from what that might mean about how thoroughly it had been sealed, Sakura could still remember the terror she had felt during the Nine-Tails' talk with her. If the Sand boy had to listen to things like that on a regular basis, she could understand the reasons for his attitude.

_Yet another reason to be grateful for the Fourth's skill_, she thought, considering some of the more unpleasant aspects of Orochimaru's cursed seal. If the seal on Temari's brother was anything like that, she was somewhat surprised he had even managed to remain sane. Perhaps, after the tournament was over, she could try to talk with him.

"Well, it sounds like I wasted your time after all," Temari said, bowing slightly to Sakura as she stood up. "Thank you for telling me what you could, though…and don't worry, I can understand why you wouldn't want people talking about something like that."

Sakura smiled apologetically at the older girl. "I'm sorry. I wish I could help you more, but it sounds like my seal is very different from your brother's," she said, standing up as well and setting down a small amount of money to cover the dumplings and tea she had eaten.

"Apparently so," Temari sighed, frowning unhappily. "Good night, Sakura-san."

As the blonde girl walked out of the café, though, Sakura couldn't help but feel that she wasn't as disappointed as she appeared to be.

- - -

_Very funny_, Kakashi thought, mentally rolling his eyes as he pulled out his well-worn copy of the latest volume of _Icha-Icha Paradise_ and settled into one of the more comfortable chairs in the Hokage's inner office to wait. Knowing Jiraiya, the old sannin probably thought making Kakashi wait for him was the height of humor, but how he had gotten the Hokage to go along with it as well was a bit puzzling. Fortunately, Kakashi had a perfectly adequate supply of reading material, so he didn't mind waiting at all.

Just as he was about to get to the good part, though, he heard the office door open, and he sighed to himself as he put his book away. Jiraiya and the Hokage entered together, talking quietly to each other, though they stopped when they noticed his presence.

"Your genin are impressive for their age," Jiraiya said by way of greeting, settling down into another chair while the Hokage made his way over to sit behind his crowded desk. "I expect they'll do well tomorrow—at least, the two who will be competing."

"What about the one who won't be?" Kakashi asked, not bothering to conceal his curiosity. While he had been keeping an eye on his genin when his duties as interim ANBU squad captain allowed, and he was indeed quite impressed with their progress, Sakura had all but vanished from existence for the past several weeks. He had seen her every now and then in passing, but the only thing he knew about what she was doing was that it had something to do with a new—or at least radically modified—style of fuuinjutsu, according to what the Hokage had told him.

Jiraiya chuckled. "That girl has so much potential that it's almost frightening," he said, shaking his head. "She'll never be more than barely competent in a stand-up fight, but I pity the person who tries to attack her if she's had time to prepare. And I'm not sure even she realizes the implications of the work she's been doing recently."

Undoubtedly, that last part had been intended specifically to pique Kakashi's interest, and he had to admit that it had worked. Before he could ask what exactly Jiraiya meant, though, the Hokage pointedly cleared his throat.

"Have you discovered anything unusual about the Kazekage's party?" he asked, bringing Kakashi's attention back to the reason for this meeting.

"Nothing definite," Kakashi replied, shaking his head. "His guards weren't happy about our security arrangements, but that seemed more like wounded pride than anything else."

The Hokage shrugged. "If that turns out to be the case, then we will send them off with our apologies after the tournament," he said. "Until then, they are guests in our territory, and they will abide by our rules."

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Kakashi bowed slightly. At a time like this, there wasn't much else to say—and, after meeting the Kazekage, he was beginning to wonder if the Hokage's theory about the Sand being in league with Orochimaru might not be correct after all. It was nothing concrete enough to act upon, but something about the man made him distinctly wary. Hopefully it was only his imagination, but he had learned to trust his instincts, and he resolved to be especially watchful at the tournament tomorrow.

"Good," the Hokage said. He glanced down at his desk for a moment, then frowned as he pulled out a large sheet of paper, which he spread out before motioning for the other two men to come look at it. It was a map of the village, showing the same defense plans Kakashi had seen just that afternoon at the briefing he gave the squads under his command, and he wondered why the Hokage was showing it to him again now. Then he noticed several changes to the squad assignments, causing him to frown as well.

Before he could ask why two of his three squads were being reassigned, the Hokage said, "The gate sentries have reported an unusual number of people entering the village over the past week—much more than we had anticipated.

"Most of the increased traffic is legitimate, of course, but it would be simple to conceal enemy ninja among everyone who has come to watch the tournament, especially the foreign nobles and merchants. With so many people, the sentries are unable to give any of them more than cursory inspections, but this evening they found one man who was attempting to smuggle in weapons among his goods for sale."

_Which means increasing security around the spectators is a higher priority than watching the Kazekage_, Kakashi thought, understanding the reasoning behind the change now but still not liking it. One ANBU squad would be no match for a ninja as skilled as the Kazekage was reported to be, and Kakashi was sure his two guards were more than competent as well. The only other real option, though, would be to—

"That's why I'll be joining you tomorrow," Jiraiya put in, just as Kakashi came to the same conclusion. He had been wondering why the sannin was present at this meeting, but that explained things quite well. Suddenly, he felt much better about his squad's chances in the event of anything unexpected happening at the tournament.

- - -

Author's Notes: My thanks for all of the reviews for last chapter; I always enjoy reading them, and it's nice to see that people are still interested in the story. As for this chapter, at least one question has been answered now--namely, what was Temari's interest in Sakura? As for why she was able to figure it out in the first place, it seems apparent from canon that she's quite intelligent, and given her exposure to Gaara, it seems reasonable that she would be able to spot the similarities between how they're treated and draw some conclusions from that.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! All comments/questions/etc. are most welcome, of course, though I can't promise I'll answer the questions. Next time, the chuunin exam tournament begins...


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